Breeze Heart
by Dolphinlight
Summary: After the Metarex have been defeated and Chris has gone home, everything seems calm and back to normal...that is until Sonic finds a kidnapped vixen in Eggman's basement who is destined to change her new friend's hearts. TailsxOC SonicXAmy KnucklesXRouge
1. Chapter 1: A Sudden Light

Okay, this is my very first story ever! It's set after the third season of Sonic X on the planet Mobius and stars my new OC. This is her story about how she came to know the Sonic characters, some even closer than others. Feel free to review and give me tips. I'd like to know if anyone seems out of character. Please no rude comments or flames! Enjoy!

I don't own anything or any characters in this story or the Sonic Universe...except my OC.

**Chapter 1:** A Sudden Light

All day. All night. Drip…drip…drip…drip. You would think someone would notice and fix the stupid leak. Didn't it get on anyone else's nerves other than hers? Maybe there was no drip…maybe she was going insane.

Drip…drip…drip…drip. Maybe if she just thought of something else. Maybe if she imagined something in her head and let it consume her whole being until nothing else lurked in her thoughts, maybe the dripping would be drowned out. She would have liked her thoughts to be consumed by her family…but that was too painful. It would be worse than the drip, and the drip was bad. It came to the point that if she heard just one more little drip she might go crazy. She might lose her mind. Then she would become the drip and her misery would be over.

She knew it was coming. All she had to do was wait just a moment longer and she would be gone. Lost in the vastness of her mind…

"Hey, honey. I brought you some food."

The smooth talking voice interrupted her thoughts with a jolt. She blinked and looked up through her prison's bars at the figure who held a bowl of something hot out towards her. She took the bowl with shaky hands from the sassy jewel thief with the smooth voice.

"'Thought you might like something hot for a change. Those robots can't cook and Shadow never considers anyone's feelings other than his own," the bat continued. She smiled slyly at the little prisoner in front of her and reached through the bars to pat her head.

"Don't touch me. Leave me alone."

"Sorry, sweetheart. I just thought you might like a little company. After all, you are down here in the dark with no one to talk to. I would think you'd go insane." The bat shifted on her hips and surveyed the pitiful little child in front of her.

"If you want to do something for me, let me out."

"You know just as well as I do that that's not an option. Eggman would just send Shadow out to track you down again anyways. I don't know why you keep asking to be free when that's obviously never gonna happen, sister."

"Then at least get someone to fix that leaking faucet."

"I'll see what I can do, darling. In the mean time if there is anything else you need don't hesitate to call me."

Something moved in the shadows off to the side and a deep voice resounded into the small room. "Rouge, leave her alone. I told you not to bother her."

"Fine, Shadow. Calm down. I was only trying to cheer her up and feed her some proper food," Rouge the bat said and sidled over to the new figure in the dark. "I'll leave her to you then, handsome." She glided away out the doorway, leaving the mysterious Shadow glaring at the captive in the cage. He grunted, turned sharply, and walked away without having spoken a word to her. She shivered and began to eat the soup that was slowly getting cold. At least Rouge was kind enough to bring things and to visit, even though she was annoying, persistent, and only did things for the benefit of herself. Shadow never said a word and when he did come to check on her he would simply glare with his red eyes at her blue ones. It would always make her so uncomfortable.

The minutes ticked by again as they always did…and someone must have fixed the leak because she couldn't hear the dripping anymore.

This was worse than the dripping. At least that had been a subtle quiet like nice, this was loud. The booming and explosions vibrated and resounded all the way down to the cellar were she was curled up in a ball at the far end of her cell. It seemed like just moments before it had been quiet and she had been hungry. Then fighting broke loose and the whole structure of Dr. Eggman's fortress trembled with awesome power. She was very hungry now. She had been in the prison for days now without food while her caretakers were too busy with the fighting and defense to remember her. No one ever came down to check on her. She felt forgotten and alone…

There was a loud crash. Louder than before and the room she was in shook harder than before. She couldn't take it anymore so she cried out in frustration.

"Stop please! Just stop! Leave me alone! Leave me in peace! Can't I have some quiet?"

Then she heard something and stopped her shouting to perk her ears forward and listen. She was listening so intently, trying to hear that sound again when a beam of light shot down into the room. It was so bright! She hadn't seen light in such a long time. Not in months had she been comforted by its warmth. She could hardly stand it. Her eyes had just barely adjusted when she saw something…someone come towards where she was curled with hands up to cover her eyes. He came into the light and blocked it with his body and she caught a glimpse of blue fur and green eyes. Then light blinded her again and she could only here his voice. It brought tears to her eyes and she started crying at the sweet sound of a caring person. It was the voice of someone who cared because she was in danger, not because she was a prize or because she knew something they wanted to know, but because she was hurt and needed someone to be there for her.

"Hey, there. Are you okay? What are you doing down here in Eggman's dungeon?" he asked her.

She still couldn't see his face, just the blackness of a silhouette. "Wh-who are you?"

"I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog."


	2. Chapter 2: Breeze

Chapter 2: Breeze

She stared at his black outline and blinked a few times, trying to get used to the light, "I'm sorry, I can't see what you look like. I haven't seen light for months now. I've been down here in this cage so long…are you here to rescue me?"

Sonic smiled and said, "Well that wasn't my mission, but why not? Eggman must think you're dangerous and I've always enjoyed messing up his plans. How long have you been down here anyways?"

"I don't remember. I just remember being captured by the black hedgehog, Shadow, and being put here in this cage. Dr. Eggman came down and said I wouldn't be causing any trouble by joining Sonic and his gang if he kept me down here…wait, you said your name was Sonic!"

"Yes I did and it is."

"So…who are you? Why would Dr. Eggman not want me joining you?" She felt her way towards the bars of the cage eager for his answer.

"I'm his…you could say nemesis or enemy. I mean, I'm always opposing everything he does. Well, okay, I've joined forces with him once or twice but that was because the situation was pretty tight and we both had a common enemy. If you joined me you could use your skills against him," Sonic explained very casually.

"Oh"

"You do have some skills right? Otherwise, why would he be keeping you locked up?"

"Um…I don't know. I'm good with a bow and arrow but I don't see any reason why I'd be dangerous or anything?"

"Okay. Well I'm gonna get you out now and you can show me just how good you are."

She nodded her head eagerly and asked, "How are you going to get the cage open?"

"I'll bust it open. Stand back."

"But you can't just…ahhhhhhhh!"

She heard a whirling sound and felt the bars beneath her fingers snap. The next moment she had no bars between her and freedom. Something in her heart came alive and she smiled for the first time in a long time. She was free! She still couldn't see well so she reached out her hand and felt someone else take it and lead her gently away from the cage. She tottered a little, but that was okay because someone strong held her steady. She had no words for the gratitude she felt towards Sonic.

Sonic held onto the small vixen's hand tightly as he guided her away from the light that had blinded her eyes. He felt bad for the poor little thing. She was shaky and weak, her eyes were squinted shut and looked sunken back into her head, and her long tail and big ears were limp. He hated Eggman for being so cruel to the girl. Most likely Eggman forgot about her and she was reliant completely on the bad cooking of his programmed robots and the infrequent checks by Shadow. He wondered why she was such a threat to the scientific genius. What did he know about her that Sonic didn't? What did he know about her that she didn't?

He sat her down in the shadows and watched as she slowly opened her eyes to reveal a strikingly blue color. She smiled when she finally saw him; her eyes dull but a small twinkle breaking through. He was sure with a little help she'd be very pretty and animated.

"There now, that's better," he said and brushed a mat of tangled blonde hair out of her eyes to curl it around her perking ears.

"Wow, you're blue just like me…only a much darker shade!" she exclaimed happily. "You're a hedgehog!"

"You're very observant. Are you feeling okay? Could you walk?" he asked.

She nodded and carefully tried to stand up on her own to feet. She faltered and he caught her. She stubbornly tried again, this time with a little more success as she stood straight and leaned against a wall. She looked so small and frail in his eyes. She couldn't be more than a few years old.

"How old are you?"

"I'm seven, but I'm almost eight and I won't get in the way I promise! Please don't leave me here! I'll keep up," she pleaded and held onto her tail in anxiety.

Sonic chuckled, "Don't worry; I'm not going to leave you. It makes no difference to me how old you are. I mean, one of my best buddies is eight and he's a technical genius! Come on, let's get out of here. I'll carry you."

"What about you're mission?"

"You're my mission now," he said with a smile and scooped the little light blue vixen up into his arms. He started to run. He ran fast. He wanted to get back to his friends so he could get the girl out of here and get her to Cream's house. Cream's mother could fix her up.

"Wow…you sure are going fast! How fast can you go?" she yelled at him through the rushing wind as he shot down a hallway.

"Faster than the speed of sound and then some," he shrugged.

"Awesome!" she exclaimed and leaned forward eagerly into the wind. Her eyes were brightening now and the lights in the hall reflected off of them with a dazzling light. He suddenly remembered that he hadn't gotten her name yet.

"Hey, kid? What's your name?" he shouted to her.

"It's Breeze, but with the way your running I feel like a storm!" she shouted back.

* * *

_**Second Chapter's done! Next they'll meet the rest of Sonic's gang. Tell me what you think!**_


	3. Chapter 3: Enter Amy and Cream

**Chapter 3:** Enter Amy and Cream

Amy tapped her foot once…twice…three times, "That's it, I've had enough!" She stomped forward with her giant hammer in hand.

"Amy!" Cream called after her, "Where are you going? We're supposed to wait for Sonic!"

"Well I'm tired of always waiting for him so I'm going to go find him!" Amy, the pink hedgehog, shouted back over her shoulder and trudged on, not looking back to see if the girly little rabbit and her chao friend were following. She soon heard the sound of running feet and felt relieved that she wasn't running into the dark fortress on her own. At least she had Cream and Cheese with her…even if they weren't any good in a desperate situation.

They walked down the hall a few more feet and were suddenly startled by a whizzing blue flash that raced by them. Amy knew who it was and clasped her hands with glee.

"Hey, wasn't that Sonic?" Cream asked. Her chao friend, Cheese, cooed.

"Of course it was Sonic! He's the only handsome hedgehog who runs that fast!" Amy gushed and ran after him, calling his name the whole way.

"Amy, wait for us!" Cream cried and followed after with Cheese flying beside her.

"Sonic! Stop! It's Amy!" Amy yelled after the speeding blue burr. She saw him come to a halt in the distance and then turn around and race back towards her. _I knew he cared about me, _she thought as she ran forward to meet him. As she got closer to him she saw that he had someone with him. From the looks of her she had been going through some rough times. Her blonde hair was all dirty and matted and the fur on her tail was tangled and limp. She was wearing a dirty dark blue skirt with a ratty top of the same color. The only thing that really struck Amy as normal was her blue eyes, and then even they weren't normal. The little vixen's eyes shone big and bright and made her forlorn appearance seem to brighten with eagerness at Amy's approach.

Amy was just as interested in meeting the little vixen, but she had to hug Sonic first and tell him how much she missed him. She had her priorities and by the way the light blue vixen was clinging to Sonic's hand she felt that she needed to let the girl know that Sonic was her's and no one else could have him.

"Sonic!" she cried and threw herself at him. She hugged him close and nuzzled his cheek.

"Whoa, take it easy, Amy! I wasn't gone that long and besides, I told you to stay there and wait for Tails. Now he's gonna worry about where you and Cream got off to."

"Oh quit worrying about Tails. He can figure it out himself. I'm just glad you're safe!"

"Me too, Sonic. Cheese and I were awfully worried about you, weren't we, Cheese?" Cream said excitedly when she finally reached them. Her little chao Cheese nodded in agreement.

Sonic smiled at the little five year old rabbit and patted Cheese on the head. "Thanks guys, but I'd like you to meet a new friend of mine." He reached back behind himself to pull the cowering Breeze forward. Amy had scared her off with the sudden hug and burst of attention. It was overwhelming for the vixen to meet so many new people in such a short span of time, especially when she hadn't had contact with really anyone in months.

"Amy, Cheese, Cream, this is Breeze. She was taken prisoner by Eggman and we're gonna take her home," he explained as Breeze poked her head shyly around his shoulder.

"Glad to meet you, Breeze! I'm Cream and this is Cheese. You look all dirty and hungry too! My mom could get you cleaned up in no time and then we can be friends!" the excited rabbit cheered and she took Breeze by the hands. Cheese flew forward and kissed the top of the vixen's head.

"Nice to meet you Breeze. I'm Amy and I'll look after you. You look like you've had it pretty rough. It's lucky Sonic found you or you could be in trouble. Don't worry we'll get you out of here real soon!" Amy said with a wink.

"Thank you all so much. I really appreciate it. I've been down in the dark for so long…but I think my eyes are adjusting and I feel better already. I am very hungry though," Breeze admitted and put a hand over her stomach.

"We'll fix you up soon, Breeze. I have to find Tails and Knuckles first though," Sonic said and took her hand again. "Come on guys, let's go look for them."

Amy ran up and put her hand in his free one, "Alright, let's go!"

The five of them continued to walk up the halls of the fortress although at a much slower pace because no one could keep up with Sonic when he was running. Breeze felt stronger every second of the way, and though she tried to listen to the rabbit with the ridiculously girly voice and answer the questions of the pink hedgehog girl with the pushy attitude, she couldn't help wondering about why Dr. Eggman took her in the first place.

"Hey, Breeze," Amy said, "what about your family? Where are they?"

"Gone. I don't want to talk about it," Breeze replied shortly.

"Oh, okay" Amy looked at her and noticed her troubled look and the pain that showed in her eyes. She leaned over to Sonic and murmured, "She reminds me of someone we used to know. I think Tails will like her."

Sonic nodded and was about to respond when Breeze suddenly exclaimed, "Oh look!" She ran forward into a small room in to one side of the hall.

The others ran after her and found her holding a large blue bow as tall as she was and a quiver full of arrows tipped with blue feathers.

"What's that Breeze?" Sonic asked.

"It's what I was telling you about before. I'm a good shot with a bow. This is my bow and arrow set, see," she showed it to Sonic, Amy, Cream, and Cheese. "Each arrow has an explosive tip so it will cause major damage to anything I hit and…I never miss," she finished smugly and grinned at the four shocked faces in front of her,

"No wonder Eggman wanted her," Amy gasped, "If you never miss, you're real dangerous!"

"You're right, I never thought of that before!" Breeze exclaimed.

"Wow, welcome to the club, Breeze! Of course I'll have to see just how good you are…" Sonic said.

"But we have faith in you, Breeze! Isn't that right Cheese?" Cream added.

"Thanks guys. I can't remember the last time someone believed in me. It means a lot. But like I said, Sonic, I never miss!" Breeze said happily and the five of them walked out of the room, Breeze with her bow and arrow slung across her back and a smile on her face.

* * *

**So yeah, Breeze is good at archery! Anyways, the chapters pick up right where the last one left off and I think I'm going to start adding longer ones. Feel free to review, but no flame stuff!** **Cream is so adorable! But now...time to find Knuckles and Tails!**


	4. Chapter 4: Red and Yellow

**Chapter 4:** Red and Yellow

They had walked quite a ways now when Breeze suddenly realized the booming and explosions had stopped. She guessed it was because Sonic was focusing on getting her out instead of fighting Dr. Eggman. She watched Sonic walking with a look of concentration on his face. She smiled again and thought about how lucky she was to meet such a brave and caring person. He seemed like the type of guy that would always be there for his friends no matter what. She wondered about these other two friends he had. Surely they had to be older and bigger and stronger because how else would Sonic really be affective against someone like Dr. Eggman. He was still very young and seemed so small compared to Eggman's robots and contraptions. His friends, Tails and Knuckles, must be very dangerous and tough. She shivered a little at the prospect of meeting them, but then squared her shoulders. After all, if they were friends of Sonic they were friends of hers.

Her excitement and strength was starting to ebb as they rounded another corner. She was dirty, tired, and hungry. She just wanted to get to where they were going and get there fast. Her bow was starting to weigh down her shoulders like it never had before and she took to keeping her head down to the ground watching the ground to help make the slow minutes pass by faster. She was in this position, staring at the ground and blotting out everything else when she was suddenly startled half to death by a loud noise to her right. Her head snapped up and she grabbed her bow. She wheeled around in panic, exhaustion taking over her body. It was hard to move! She started to panic, but then felt the firm pressure of Sonic's hand on her arm.

"Breeze, it's okay. Just calm down. It's only Knuckles and Tails. Tails has the X Tornado so he can fly us out of here and get you some help," Sonic spoke to her in a low soothing voice. It was the only thing that could have gotten past her panic stricken mind and calm her down. She took a deep breath and looked around to see the new arrivals, holding tightly to Sonic's hand the whole time.

"What's wrong with the little fox? Jumping at shadows?" a deep voice asked.

Breeze glared at the red echidna who had insulted her. He had huge knuckles and a sideways white crescent moon shape on is red chest. He stared back at her with violet eyes and was shocked when the timid little girl he had just watched get all freaked out when Tails landed stared right back at him and said with vehemence, "I'm a vixen, not a fox. There's a difference."

"Knuckles, this is Breeze. I rescued her from Eggman's cellar. She's got a bow and arrow set that she uses and never misses with so she'll be very valuable to us. Right now we've got to get her out of here. She's real weak," Sonic explained moving in front of Breeze a little more. Breeze poked her head out from behind Sonic again.

"He's not as tough as I thought he would be," she observed.

"Not tough! Watch this little _vixen_!" Knuckles yelled and slammed his fist into a wall, shattering it to little bits. Breeze stared wide eyed.

"Alright," she swallowed, "I take it back. You're strong, but you don't have much aim. That's where I come in."

"You think your hot stuff, hu? Alright, show me what you can do," Knuckles challenged.

Breeze looked around for a target. "See that security camera way down there? I'll hit it first time."

"That's got to be like 100 feet away!" Cream exclaimed.

Breeze took her bow and stood in ready position. She knocked one of her blue feathered arrows.

"You don't have to prove yourself just because Knuckles is a hard head, Breeze. You're tired, don't stress yourself," Amy pleaded.

"Oh I can do it…just watch," and with that she released the arrow. It whizzed by fast and half a second later they heard an explosion and the camera at the end of the hall was gone. Sonic made a quick dash to where the camera had been for conformation.

"Yup, it's gone," he said. "She's good!"

"Thanks, Sonic," Breeze said.

Cream, Amy, and Cheese all exclaimed in wonder and congratulated Breeze on her expert shot. Knuckles grumbled in the background. Just a little ways behind Knuckles a ship stood in robot mode. It moved forward after Breeze's excellent shot and suddenly everyone who had forgot it was there, remembered.

"Tails! Come on out of there and meet Breeze!" Amy shouted at the cockpit. "I'm sure you'll like her!"

Breeze looked at the big gold tipped robot and shivered. _You've got to be big and tough to operate that thing. Tails must be Sonic's big and dangerous friend, _she thought.

The cockpit made a whining sound and slid back…to reveal a little yellow-orange fox with big light blue eyes and white tuffs of fur on his stomach and around his face much like hers. Breeze stared. He couldn't have been much older than she was! He jumped down from his robot and walked shyly over.

"Hey, Tails. This is Breeze. You must have heard about her when I was talking to Knuckles. She's seven, one year younger than you!" Sonic said and patted Tails on the back in a friendly gesture. "Tails is a genius. He built that robot all by himself and he built his own spaceship too. In fact, he's built almost everything! He's real useful against Eggman," Sonic continued.

Tails blushed. "It's nothing really," he said in a small cute voice. "Hi, I'm Miles Prower…but like Sonic said you can call me "Tails", all my friends do." He had his hands behind his back in a cute way.

"Nice to meet you, Tails," she said, flattered that he already considered her as one of his friends.

He smiled and then Sonic nudged him in the back. "Oh…uh…that was a nice shot you just did," he stammered and then looked at her. "You're very skilled."

"Thanks. You are too. It must have taken a lot to build that…and to fly it," she said indicating the robot behind him.

"Oh, yeah. That's the X Tornado. It's one of my favorite machines." He turned around to motion at it and seemed to be getting a lot more comfortable, but then Breeze ruined it by gasping. Tails whirled around and looked at her to see what was wrong.

"You have two tails!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah…that doesn't bother you does it?" he asked, worried. "So many people have shunned me because I'm different," he added with a downcast expression.

"No, I think that's cool!" she exclaimed. "It makes you unique! I can see where you get your nick-name from!"

Tails noticeably brightened and smiled, "Yeah, I can twirl them real fast and fly with them too, see."

He whirled his white-tipped tails until they looked like helicopter blades and lifted off the ground. He flew around the room, showing off to his new friend. Breeze clapped her hands with glee when he landed and the others laughed, that is all of them except Knuckles.

"Enough with the games. Tails, get in that ship and let's get out of here. I need to get back to the Master Emerald," he complained.

Breeze frowned at him but Sonic said, "He's right guys. Let's go!"

"Okay, Sonic…but we're gonna have to double up. The X Tornado can only hold four and there are seven of us," Tails explained.

"I'm with Sonic!" Amy shouted and jumped in the back seat where Sonic was already seated. She landed in his lap and hugged him close.

"Lay off a little, Amy!" he exclaimed, which only made her hug him closer.

Cream and Cheese got in the seat right in front of Sonic and Amy, and Knuckles took the seat right behind the cockpit. He stretched out in the chair to make it look like there was only room for him. Breeze was in a dilemma. She couldn't sit with who she would have felt most comfortable with because Amy had stolen that seat. Cream and Cheese were already packed in and Knuckles clearly did not want anyone to sit with him. She was at odds with him anyways and didn't think it was a good idea if she sat on his lap. The only other place was in the cockpit with Tails, but he probably needed the room to fly. She stood alone in the hall while all the others took their seats and wondered what to do. She didn't really know them all that well and felt uncomfortable. Maybe they should just leave her here and come back later.

Tails noticed her as he strapped himself in. "Hey, Breeze! Come on, there's room up here with me," he waived her over.

"It might just be better to come back for me. Don't you need space to maneuver?" she shouted up at him.

"No way! I can fly this thing easy even with you up here. Come on!"

"Okay," she said nervously and climbed up into the cockpit. She sat down in his lap, there was no other place to sit, and was suddenly aware of how dirty she was. "I'm all dirty and smelly. Sorry, Tails," she admitted and looked up at him.

"No problem, Breeze. It's not your fault," he said and smiled back at her, light blue eyes sparkling. He closed the cockpit and put his hands on the controls. The air got close and Breeze started to feel enclosed again like she was back in her prison. She leaned close to Tails and shut her eyes trying to stifle the feeling.

"It's okay, Breeze. It'll be over soon," he murmured so only she could hear. Breeze, comforted by his voice, nodded.

"X Tornado, launch!" Tails announced and pushed the controls forward. The robot sprang into action and transformed itself back into a fast jet. It shot towards the ceiling of the fortress and Tails felt Breeze cringe at the sudden movement and bury herself deeper into his fur. She cracked an eye open and gasped at the speed they were approaching the ceiling. They were going to crash! Tails probably couldn't control the X Tornado because she was in the way!

"Tails!" she yelled. "We're gonna crash!" She closed her eyes tight and held onto him like she'd never let go.

Tails smiled and kept concentrating on the ceiling. He put an arm around the frightened blue vixen in his lap and assured her, "No we're not, Breeze. Launch missiles!"

Tails pressed a button and two missiles flew towards the ceiling and blasted it opened. The X Tornado then shot through the hole and into the bright sunny sky. Breeze's eyes streamed with tears as the light hit them and she saw the bright blue sky for the first time after months of being in prison. Her eyes hurt so much with all of the light, but she couldn't look away. It was glorious!

"Oh, Tails!" she breathed. "Isn't it the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?!"

Tails looked down at her and then looked at the sky. A deep and hurtful memory flooded his mind, but then he realized she was right and the memory faded away. "Yeah, it is the most beautiful thing, even more beautiful than Cosmo," he said to himself.

Breeze didn't hear him. She was too busy watching the dazzling blue sky with white fluffy clouds suspended in it's vastness, feeling the warmth of Tails' arm wrapped closely around her body, and thinking about how utterly and unfathomably happy she was right at that moment, even though she smelled like a sewer and her eyes felt like they were on fire! Knuckles, who had been listening to the whole thing, harrumphed behind them and wished they would get there faster.

* * *

**This one was a little longer and I think I'm going to keep that up or I'll have too many chapters! Please review. I'd like to hear any suggestions, just be considerate!**


	5. Chapter 5: Vanilla's House

**Chapter 5:** Vanilla's House

Tails landed the X Tornado nice and smoothly in front of Cream's house. It had been a little difficult flying the plane with Breeze asleep in his arms, but he didn't regret it. She had given him a peace that he hadn't felt when he was flying since Cosmo…but he didn't want to think about that.

Upon landing Knuckles immediately bounded out of his seat and took of without so much as a goodbye, but that was Knuckles for you. Sonic finally escaped from Amy and Cream and Cheese ran up to the door of their house to get Cream's mother. Tails didn't want to wake Breeze up so he carefully unbuckled his straps and stood up carrying Breeze with him. Sonic popped up beside him.

"Here, I'll take her, buddy," he said.

"Okay, but be careful, Sonic," Tails warned. He clambered down from the ship only to see Sonic deposit the sleeping vixen into Cream's mother's arms. The rabbit took Breeze into the house and upstairs to a bed while the others filed into the house.

"The poor thing," the older rabbit said. "All by herself in Eggman's dungeon with nothing to eat. I'll fix her some hot soup and when she wakes up I'll give her a nice warm bath and some clean clothes."

"Thanks, Vanilla. I really appreciate you opening your doors to us all the time and helping us out with everything," Amy said. "Would you like me to get some dinner started while you take care of Breeze?"

"That would be nice, Amy, thank you."

"No problem. Come on, Cream lets get started!" Amy and Cream sprinted towards the kitchen with Cheese hot on their heels, chaoing excitedly.

Sonic went outside for a run and to take a nap until dinner was ready, leaving Tails with not much to do. He wandered outside to look over the X Tornado and check for any broken parts or short-circuiting wires. All seemed to be in order and he found himself wondering if it would be okay to take a quick look at Breeze to see how she was doing. _That's stupid, Tails. She needs to rest, not worry about a little two tailed fox bothering her_, he thought to himself and sighed. He then heard footsteps coming up behind him and turned around to see Vanilla, Cream's mom, walking towards him briskly.

"Oh, Tails! Thank goodness I found you. Sonic's not around and Knuckles vanished and the girls are busy making dinner so I didn't know who else to go to," Vanilla said in a worried tone.

"What seems to be the problem?" Tails asked.

"Well…Breeze woke up and she doesn't know where she is. She's confused and tired and she's never seen me before so she's scared and a little panicky. If she could see a familiar face she might calm down some. Sonic would be best. She keeps asking for him, but she knows you so I thought maybe she'd calm down a little if you'd come up and talk to her. If you're not busy that is."

A look of concern crossed Tail's face and he answered without hesitating, "Of course, I'll go right now." He followed Vanilla into the house and up the stairs.

When Breeze woke up the first thing she felt was pain and soreness. Then hunger kicked in and she could barely stand it. She lifted her heavy head and tried to focus on the bleary room in front of her. It was so hard to think. Her head felt all fuzzy and numb inside. She didn't recognize anything in the room. Where were her parents? Why wasn't she in her room?

Her brain started to jump to conclusions and she decided she must have been kidnapped! She sat up, only to feel the blood rush in to her head and blackness fill her eyes. Where was she! Why did she hurt so much? Why was she so hungry? Were they starving her? Her blurry vision tried to make out details…but nothing made sense. She was so scared. She started to shake and she couldn't control it. _Why is my body doing this! I can't stop! _Then she saw a figure move towards her. A tall figure with hands outstretched. She shrank away in fright, backing into the corner where the bed she was on touched the wall. They were going to hurt her again! Where was her family! Did they get kidnapped to?

The figure spoke…but Breeze couldn't hear words. She put her head in her arms to hide away the frightening images. Tears streamed down her face. There was someone who saved her, someone who rescued her from the dark. Where was he? He was supposed to save her! She couldn't see, she couldn't hear, and all she could feel was pain and a chill in the air. The figure advanced again and Breeze crammed herself against the wall again.

"Go away! Leave me alone!" she cried. The figure stopped and said something then left the room. Breeze was alone now, but that didn't stop the hurt. The tears kept falling and her body kept shaking, she could control neither one. She wrapped her blue tail around her to try and fight out the chill, her knees were tucked up close to her chest with her arms wrapped around them and her head was lowered into her arms so she couldn't see. She stayed that way in misery for a few minutes…and then her keen ears picked up the sound of footsteps and voices coming back towards her. She started to whine and moan. They weren't going to leave her alone this time. They were going to hurt her.

The voices kept talking and soon they were talking to her. She thought she knew one, but it was probably just a trick and she drew away again and whimpered. She couldn't understand them anyways. Then it was quiet for awhile and she felt someone coming closer to her. She felt them next to her, and then felt the warm feeling of an arm wrapping around her tight little ball she had created and pulling her close so that she was leaning up against a warm soft body. She heard the voices again, but this time it was just one and it sounded clearer. She lifted her head out of its burrow and snuggled up against the warm fur of the person next to her. For some reason, this felt safe. This felt right.

Then she could hear again. "Breeze, are you okay? It's all right, you don't have to answer. Just rest a little," a soft and kind voice said to her. She lifted up her head and opened her eyes, and she could see him clearly now. His light blue eyes shone like he was about to cry and his fur was bright yellow-orange in the light.

"Tails…it's you," she whispered and suddenly her memories flooded back to her. "I remember now. Sonic saved me from Eggman and you brought me here." She looked around and saw a large female rabbit standing nearby with tears in her eyes. "Where am I…and who's that?"

"I'm sorry, Breeze. I should have stayed with you. I forgot you were so weak and disoriented. You must have been real scared and if I was here you wouldn't have been. It's my fault," Tails confessed quietly and a tear ran down his cheek. It had been awful to see her like that, all curled and tense in the corner with tears streaming from her eyes. He felt so bad inside to know that just hours earlier she had been looking out the window of the X Tornado at the beautiful blue sky with a smile on her face and leaning close to him in his lap. Now she was shaken and hurting. He wished he could do something more for her, maybe turn back time and rescue her before Eggman got his hands on her. She must have been wonderful before all these bad things happened.

He noticed she was looking at him and then she smiled. "Tails, I'm the one who should be crying. I haven't eaten in days, I smell like the dead, and I just said some awful things to you and her when all you've been trying to do is help me. _I'm_ sorry. I was just so weak and confused," she said to him and reached up to wipe the tears away from his cheek. He tightened his grip around her as if he would never let her go and they looked into each others eyes; her's just a little darker than his but both like sparkling crystals. Vanilla clasped her hands together and more tears flowed down her rabbit cheeks.

"Hey, guys. I herd Breeze was in trouble. What's going on?" a friendly voice interrupted from the doorway.

"Sonic!" Breeze cried and literally leaped from Tails' arms and ran towards him, new found strength kicking in when she heard her hero's voice. The moment was spoiled, but Tails kept in his heart forever after that. It was the first time in months he had been truly happy with someone since Cosmo died.

"Hey, Breeze! You look bright and cheerful. What happened to feeling bad and confused?" Sonic asked when Breeze dove at him and hugged him tight.

"Tails came up and brought me to my senses. I had no idea where I was until I heard his voice. I'm fine now, and I'm so hungry!" Breeze explained and jumped up and down excitedly, holding onto Sonic's arms.

"Okay. I want you to meet Vanilla. She's Cream's mom and this is her house. She'll take care of you," Sonic said gesturing towards Vanilla.

"Hi! I'm Breeze. I'm real sorry about freaking out. I love your house and thank you so much for everything! Your daughter's really awesome and sweet!"

"Thank you, dear. I forgive you for everything. I'm just glad you're feeling better. Now follow me and I'll get you some food and a bath and some clean clothes. Cream and Amy are cooking something for us downstairs," Vanilla said with a smile as she took the little vixen's hand and led her away.

Tails sat on the bed where Breeze had left him. He felt a little sad and dejected, but climbed down from the bed and walked over to Sonic.

"Good job, buddy," Sonic said and gave him a thumbs up. "You brought her back to the light."

"Yeah…I'd do it anytime. Do you think she'll be okay?" Tails asked.

"Sure, she'll be fine. Come on, let's go see what's for dinner," Sonic said and dashed out of the room. Seconds later Tails heard both Amy and Breeze shout his name in excitement and chatter began to resound around the house. Tails sighed and walked towards the kitchen. Everyone was so happy now, so why did his heart have to hurt?

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**Review!**


	6. Chapter 6: Some Important News

**Chapter 6:** Some Important News

Tails finally made it to the kitchen where he found the whole gang, excluding Knuckles of course, sitting around Vanilla's table and talking about past times. Breeze sat in the middle of everybody and talked to everybody in an excited voice. Her face was a little washed up, but she still looked dirty. She smiled and waved when she saw Tails and he waved back. He went and sat in an empty seat at the end of the table.

Amy brought out the food, hot soup, and everyone began to eat. Soon all breeze could do was slurp up bowl after bowl of the stuff. It was so good! She had never had anything that tasted so great, which she repeatedly told the cooks and anyone else who was listening. Vanilla had to stop her from eating so she could have a bath and get some clean clothes.

As soon as Breeze left the table got much quieter. No one said much because no one could think of anything to say. They were all lost in their own thoughts about who the little vixen was and what led her to be captured in the first place.

"Well, I'm gonna ask her when she gets back. After all, if she's going to stay with us we need to know her history," Sonic said. Everyone agreed and settled down to wait for Breeze to return.

Vanilla came back after Breeze was settled and taking her bath and was shocked at the silence and all the expectant faces. "My, my, Breeze certainly knows how to brighten up a party and get everyone talking. You kids are usually not this talkative. In fact, the last time I had all of you here and talking was when Cosmo was staying here and was sick just like Breeze," she commented as she moved dishes out of the way.

Tails noticeably flinched at the name "Cosmo" and twirled his drink around, staring at the table. There were a few more moments of silence and then, "Oh, Tails! Lighten up already!" Amy said and he jerked his head up and looked at her, shocked. "Cosmo's been gone for along time now and all you can do is mope around and feel sorry for yourself! Well I've had enough! Why don't you quit being such a baby and get back to your old self!"

"Amy, calm down…" Sonic started to say.

"Keep out of this, Sonic! I'm tired of you always sticking up for him. You know I'm right. I thought Breeze might do him some good but he's still the same old moping Tails who hides in his workshop all day tinkering with his gadgets!" she yelled.

Sonic stared, wide eyed, and Cream began to sniffle while cheese dropped into her lap. Vanilla looked frightened and confused, but Tails just glared at Amy. He shoved his chair back and walked out of the room without looking back. They heard the front door slam and Tails was gone.

"Wow," Amy said quietly after a few minutes. "I've never seen him get so mad."

"Way to go, Amy," Sonic said sarcastically. "Now what will we do about him.'

Amy didn't say anything and looked down at her hands while Vanilla comforted her daughter. The door creaked opened slowly and Breeze peeked her head into the room. Her fur was dry, clean, and fluffy and she was wearing a new bright blue skirt and top. Her blonde hair dripped a little on the carpet as she surveyed the scene. She had heard the shouting from the bathroom and was scared to come out and see what had happened to the happy friends she had just left.

"What happened to Tails?" she asked in a small voice.

"He just hasn't been his old self lately and Amy got fed up with him," Sonic explained. "He left, probably going to his workshop."

"I'm sorry, I guess I shouldn't have yelled at him like that," Amy apologized, still looking at her hands.

"Apologize to him, not us," Sonic told her.

"We should go out and find him!" Breeze exclaimed. "He can't be far."

"Oh he's far away by now. He took the X Tornado," Sonic said.

"You're not going after him anyways, young lady. Look at you, you're exhausted. It's time for you to get some sleep," Vanilla told her and picked her up to take her upstairs.

"Let me know how he is when you find him, Sonic," Breeze said before Vanilla took her upstairs. Sonic nodded and then darted out the door to look for Tails. Amy and Cream sat at the table in silence.

As soon as Breeze lay her head down she was asleep. Vanilla tucked her in and sat down on the bed next to her, watching the little vixen breathe peacefully.

"Oh, Breeze, I wish you could have seen how much you did for our little Tails. He was his old self again when he was holding you and you were looking into his eyes. If you knew how much you meant to him…well I guess he's going to have to tell you himself when he realizes there's more to life than Cosmo," Vanilla whispered to the sleeping girl. She bent down and kissed her goodnight, then left the room.

The next morning Breeze woke up to the sound of chirping birds and a chirping chao as she listened to the sounds of breakfast being made in the kitchen. She stretched and smiled, glad to finally have a family again, and raced downstairs to say good morning to everyone she saw. Maybe Sonic found Tails and he would be there too! When she got to the kitchen she found Vanilla, Cream, and Cheese making eggs and bacon.

"Good morning, everyone! Where's Sonic? Did he find Tails?"

"Good morning, Breeze. I don't know where he is. He hasn't been back since he left last night. Would you like to help make breakfast?" Cream said.

"Oh…I'd love too," Breeze replied a little downfallen, but happy to spend more time with Cream and her mom.

They fried up the bacon and scrambled the eggs all the time talking and laughing. They were almost through when Amy walked in.

"Hey, guys. Mind if I join you for breakfast?" the pink hedgehog asked.

"Sure thing, Amy. You're just in time!" Breeze said and they followed her out of the kitchen with their food to sit at the table next to the window and eat.

The five of them chatted about this and that, Cheese "chaoed", and Breeze found herself relaxing and enjoying her time with her new friends even if they were an odd bunch. In fact things were going very well until a certain someone walked in the room.

"Ahem. Sorry to interrupt but I have a situation, where's Sonic?" Knuckles asked.

"Knuckles?!" Amy said, "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for Sonic. All I seem to have found is a tea party," he said, arms crossed and glowering at everyone as usual.

"He's not here, but maybe we could help you find him. What's up?" Amy pressed.

"I don't think I can trust a bunch of girls with something important like this. Sonic's the only one I want to talk to."

Amy fumed and started to get up but Vanilla pushed her down, "What about Tails? You could find him, if we ladies upset you so much," Vanilla told him.

"Tails used to be useful, not anymore. All he does is cry over some stupid plant. Now where is Sonic?"

"Haven't you heard or are you deaf? We…don't…know," Breeze said emphasizing on her last words to him to make sure he understood properly that time.

"I don't have to stand here and take insults from a baby fox!" Knuckles said and put up his fists. "Come on, you want to fight "blondie", put 'em up."

Breeze stood, picked up her bow and arrow, and took a ready stance, glaring at the red echidna the whole time.

"Oh, so you think you're tough with that piece of wood and that pointy stick, hu? I can take you with my eyes closed," Knuckles taunted.

"Bring it!" Breeze shouted and let her arrow loose.

A flash of blue and Sonic stood between them with the arrow in his hand. "Lucky for you I caught this, Knuckles or you would've been toast," he said and handed it back to Breeze.

"I would not!" Knuckles shouted.

"Sonic! Why'd you have to do that? I was gonna teach that knuckle head some manners! Besides, these don't have explosive tips. It would've just impaled him and given him a nasty flesh wound," Breeze argued and put her arrow back in the quiver. She smiled at Sonic and he laughed and smiled back. "Did you find Tails?" she added.

"Who cares about that whining tree hugger, I've got important news for you, Sonic," Knuckles interrupted impatiently.

Breeze got a real nasty look on her face and reached for another arrow, but Sonic beat her to it and snatched her quiver away. "Let's play nice, now," he scolded.

"Fine, I'll use my bow to bash his skull in."

"She really doesn't like you," Sonic observed to Knuckles.

"Oh, you think," Knuckles said sarcastically. "Anyways, Sonic, listen to me this is important. I was napping by the Master Emerald this morning and it started to flash and glow. Next thing I knew guess who was standing in front of me?"

"Who?" Sonic asked impatiently.

"Chris, who else!" Knuckles shouted at him.

"Chris is back! Where is he?" Sonic exclaimed.

"I left him with the Master Emerald. You need to come with me," Knuckles said and walked out the door. Sonic followed, fast on his heels, and Cream, Amy, and Cheese danced around the room.

"Chris is back! Chris is back!" they shouted for joy.

"Who's Chris?" Breeze asked.

"He's a human from planet Earth that helped us get back home to our world and to defeat the Metarex," Cream answered.

"Wow, I heard about the Metarex from Dr. Eggman…but I've never seen a human before," Breeze said.

"Oh, they basically look like Dr. Eggman, but you'll see for yourself as soon as Sonic brings Chris back here!" Amy explained.

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**Okay...so I brought Chris back, but you really can't have Sonic X without Chris and this is a Sonic X fanfic. So let's just hope he's not as annoying this time! Did Tails seem a little bit too emotional?  
**


	7. Chapter 7: Thunderstorm

**Chapter 7:** Thunderstorm

A few hours later resulted in a knocking at the door. Breeze was in the living room, watching TV with Cream and Cheese when her ears perked up at the sound. She heard Vanilla open the door and exclaim and then commotion followed. Cream and Cheese jumped up and ran towards the front door shouting about how Chris must be here and Breeze heard Amy running from the kitchen. Breeze sat in front of the TV for awhile, listening to the excitement in the front room. She felt uncomfortable about going out there with all those friends who knew each other so well and being the new friend who nobody really knows much about and can't really be trusted yet. She didn't want to be left out of inside jokes or old memories. She wanted to belong and have an important place in Sonic's family, but for some reason she still felt like an oddball who was just visiting for a little while and didn't really belong.

Then she heard them come into the room where she sat and she looked up at the boy named Chris. He was still a kid, though Amy and Cream had explained to her that when he traveled here his age changed and that in reality he was around nineteen years old. He had brown hair that stuck out in odd angles and brown eyes that, when focused on her, seemed to invite her with open arms into an undying friendship. Her heart, which had been burdened only a few minutes before with loneliness and exclusion, now lifted and felt lighter. She knew she was looking at the eyes of a person who would do his utmost for her no matter what and no matter how little he knew about her.

"Hi, I'm guessing you're Breeze, right?" he said in a friendly voice and reached out a hand towards her.

"Yes, I'm Breeze. I'm guessing you're Chris," she replied and shook his hand while getting up from the floor.

"It is very nice to meet you. Sonic and Knuckles have been telling me all about you and how they found you and stuff. It must have been terrible for you to be locked up in the dark while every one was out after the Metarex."

Knuckles grunted in the background and Sonic came forward to join the conversation.

"Yes it was, but then Sonic saved me and everything is alright now," Breeze said.

Sonic patted her on the back, "She's a real great kid. Hey, Breeze, you should show Chris how well you shoot arrows."

"There's plenty of time for that later, let's eat!" Amy said hurriedly and dragged Sonic away from Breeze towards the table where everyone, including Knuckles was gathering.

"Could I sit next to you, Breeze?" Chris asked.

"Sure, I'd like that," she said and smiled as they walked to the table.

Once seated, Amy and Vanilla passed out plates and food and everyone dug in. Chris was extremely happy to be back with his friends again. He told them how he had reopened the portal so he could come visit anytime and how he might have figured out how to open another portal here so he could get back. "Only," he was explaining, "I need to figure out how to stop shrinking every time I come here. I know your, time is different and all from my planet, I just wish there was something I could do about it. I'd have to talk with Tails…hey where is Tails? I haven't seen him since I got here."

"Oh, he's off moping about plants in his workshop," Amy answered.

"Oh," Chris said and scratched the back of his head. "I guess he still hasn't gotten over it has he?"

A second later and the door opened to reveal none other than Tails coming into the dinning room, excitement in his eyes.

"Speak of the sob story," Knuckles mumbled to himself. Sonic elbowed him in the ribs.

"Tails!" Chris exclaimed and got up to hug his old friend.

"Hey, Chris! I heard you were here and rushed over. How come no one came and got me earlier?"

"We thought you didn't want to be disturbed," Amy said.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about how I acted guys," Tails said abashedly and reached his hand behind his ears to scratch his head in embarrassment.

"That's okay, buddy," Sonic said and then gestured to a chair which happened to be next to Breeze and Chris. "Sit down and have some food."

Tails smiled and moved over to the chair to sit down. He knew Sonic would understand. Amy and Knuckles were the only ones who didn't understand why he felt the way he did. Breeze, of course, didn't know anything other than that he wasn't himself. He glanced over at her to see what her reaction was at his being there. To his relief, she was smiling just as before, but what was a little unnerving was that she was staring at him.

"Hey, Breeze. How've you been?" he asked her to maybe put a stop to the staring.

"Good. Everyone makes me feel so at home, and to think that I thought I wouldn't fit in."

Tails smiled and said, "Of course you fit in. You're special and you have valuable talents. You can put a smile on anyone's face and you're laugh brightens up a dark room when nothing else will."

"Wow, thanks, Tails," she said, shocked at all of the compliments.

Tails grinned abashedly again and wondered what in the world had compelled him to say something like that. Maybe it was her smile, or the way the dinning room lamp caught her blonde hair in its light causing it to glisten. She was all cleaned up now and decently fed and cared for. He was right, she was wonderful.

"Tails, why are you staring at me like that?" Breeze asked in a nervous voice.

"Oh! I was? Sorry," he apologized quickly and blushed as he bent over his food.

Chris smiled at Sonic and the hedgehog winked. They had both seen the way the little orange fox had been staring at Breeze. _They look so perfect together, he may get over Cosmo after all_, Chris thought.

That night it rained. It didn't just rain, it poured, thundered, and lightning flashed across the dark sky. Nobody, not even Knuckles, wanted to leave and face the storm so Vanilla started to make sleeping arrangements.

Tails was very worked up and close to a state of panic. He absolutely hated thunderstorms and was scared to death of thunder ever since he could remember and had never been able to get over it despite Sonic's help. He sat in the living room, curled up on a couch, and shivered as he listened to the rain on the roof. He would try and prepare himself for the loud noise he knew was coming after every flash of light, but no matter what he did the loud deep rumbling of the thunder shook him to his very bones and he jumped every time he heard it. He was by himself in the living room, he rest of his friends were still in the dinning room arguing about who was going to sleep where. He didn't care where he slept; he didn't think he could sleep. He stayed cowering away in the sofa, hoping no one would come in and tease him and at the same time hoping someone would come comfort him. He hurt inside from knowing his friends were disappointed with him for not being able to get over Cosmo. That put on top of the hated thunder made it all the worse and pretty much one of the most terrible nights he'd ever had. Tears escaped his eyes as he thought about it and sat alone in the blackness of his thoughts. If only Cosmo were here…everything would be all right.

"Tails? What's wrong?" he heard a soft voice ask and he hurriedly wiped tears away so she wouldn't see that he had been crying.

"I'm fine, Breeze," he replied back in a quiet voice.

Breeze didn't believe him and walked over to sit next to him on the couch. The arguing in the dinning room had been too much for her so she had wandered into the living room only to find a dejected and depressed Tails curled in a ball on the couch and shaking at the noise of the thunder, much like she had been when she woke up and didn't know where she was. Something must really have been bothering Tails and she suspected it had something to do with the plant references she kept hearing. She had no idea what it meant and who Cosmo was, but she felt it wasn't her place to ask and that if someone was going to tell her about it that it had to be Tails who did. So she kept her mouth shut and wished she could do something to make Tails feel better. Maybe he just needed someone to be with him.

"I don't think you're fine, Tails. I think you're scared of thunder."

He looked at her sitting next to him. Her eyes portrayed understanding and he wished he could just pour out his heart to her and tell her all about his fears and about Cosmo, but he didn't want to burden her with his problems. "Just a little…well okay, a lot. I don't know what it is, but every time I hear thunder it scares me and I jump." As if to prove his point a loud peel of thunder broke lose and Tails jumped and whimpered.

Breeze looked at him thoughtfully, "I bet if you slept through it you wouldn't notice," she suggested.

"I've tried, but I can't sleep and I start thinking about sad things," he shivered and put his head down on his knees. Tears started to run from his eyes again and this time he couldn't hold them back. "It's hopeless."

Breeze's heart cried out for the little fox and she took his hand in hers. Tails raised his head and looked at her with tears shimmering in his eyes. "Just try to sleep, Tails. I'll sit with you. It might help," she said gently, her hand still holding on to his.

"Are you sure you don't mind? I don't want to be any trouble. I'll be fine, anyways I've gotten through storms before," he said in a sad voice, but his blue eyes pleaded with her to stay.

"I'm sure," she said. "You helped me when I needed it, so I'm going to help you. Besides, I think this is different from just any other storm."

He nodded and leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes. Breeze sat next to him, holding his hand and feeling his tension slowly start to ebb away. She scooted closer to him to feel the warmth of his body close to hers and leaned her head on his shoulder. She soon fell asleep, and when the others came into the room to look for her they found Tails and Breeze both fast asleep curled up on the couch, Breeze leaning on Tails with her tail wrapped around them and her hand clasping his.

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**Next chapters coming up. Thanks for the reviews! They are really helpful!**


	8. Chapter 8: Heading to the Workshop

**Chapter 8:** Heading to the Workshop

The next morning, Tails woke up to find himself alone on the couch in Vanilla's living room. He stretched and yawned, then got off of the couch to go look and see if anyone was around. He ended up finding that the house was empty and everyone was outside enjoying the beautiful weather. He went outside to be greeted by Sonic who was taking a nap in the shade while Amy, Cream, Vanilla, Chris, and Cheese were enjoying a picnic out on a grassy hill and a few yards away from them Breeze was firing arrows at a target posted on a tree.

"Hey, buddy. Sorry no one waked you, you were sleeping so well I didn't think you should be disturbed," Sonic said.

"That's ok, Sonic," Tails replied and smiled.

Sonic indicated Breeze with a nod of his head," She was right, she never misses. I've been watching her and all she gets is bull's-eyes."

"Wow, she is good at that."

"She's also good at calming people's nerves and putting them to sleep," Sonic said with a wink.

Tails blushed, "Yeah…well I'm going to go to the shop. You know where I am if you need me."

"Okay, buddy. I'll send Chris over later."

Tails nodded and jumped inside the X Tornado. He fired it up, started for the run way, and saw that Breeze had been alerted by the noise of the X Tornado preparing for take off. She smiled and waved at him from on top of the hill where she stood. He waved back and then launched the plane into the sky. Breeze watched him fly away into the sky until she could no longer see him. A light breeze tousled her hair as the plane winked out of sight in the distance and she resumed her target practice.

Chris watched as the vixen hit the bull's eye again and again without even trying. She would even shoot from different angles and from up in a tree and from lying on her white belly in the grass. If she concentrated, she never missed what she was aiming for.

"You know Sonic," Chris said as he sat by the blue hedgehog while they watched Breeze shoot. "Breeze is really valuable. It's a good thing you have her on your team, but there's something about her that I can't quite place. There's something special…I think Eggman realized this too. That's why he captured her."

"Yeah, I know, Chris, I just didn't want to say anything about it in front of everyone else. Maybe if we knew something about her past we could figure it out," Sonic said with a look of concentration on his face."

"Why don't you just ask her?"

"I don't think she knows herself, but I'll talk to her about it later. She's so happy right now and I can tell when I start talking about her past she gets depressed. Her former life must not have been very pleasant."

"Or maybe something happened to her family, like Cosmo."

"Hey maybe you should talk to her, buddy. She might open up to you. You have that kind of an atmosphere about you," Sonic suggested.

"Oh, well I guess I could give it a try," Chris said thoughtfully and got up to go talk with Breeze.

"Oh hey, buddy, when you're done you should go by Tails' shop. I think he's got some stuff to show you," Sonic called after him. Chris nodded and gave him a thumbs up.

Breeze lowered her arrow when she saw Chris coming and waived at him. He waived back and picked up his pace to go stand next to her. He was a little nervous about what he was going to attempt; he didn't want to hurt her feelings.

"Hey, Breeze. You sure are a good shot. I'm sure people have told you that before, though," Chris said casually.

"Yeah, my parents used to always…" she stopped and looked down at the ground, ears drooping, "Anyways; I've known how to do it all my life."

"Oh yeah? When did you learn? Did someone teach you?" Chris said, getting a little nervous because of her downcast expression.

"Yeah, someone taught me and I learned when I was just a baby," she said shortly and shot another bull's eye.

"Oh…well okay," Chris said. He didn't want to push her and he could tell from her voice she wanted the conversation to be over. He guessed she just needed to warm up to him a little more.

"Well, it was nice talking to you. I'm gonna go over to Tails' workshop and check it out. See 'ya later."

Breeze perked her ears up and looked at him with eager eyes, "Oooo, can I come too? I'd love to see all the gadgets that Tails builds."

"Sure, I don't think he'd mind," Chris said with a smile. Cream decided she wanted to go too so she could have Breeze all to herself, so Chris, Breeze, Cream, and of course Cheese all piled into one of the flying ships, that Tails had left at Vanilla's house in case of emergencies, and took off down the driveway to go to Tails' workshop. Breeze leaned excitedly on the glass of the window to see if she could spot Tails' shop from high above. Finally, Chris pointed it out to her from the cockpit. It was a little door in the side of the mountain, almost like a cave but it didn't look naturally made. It was surrounded by thick vegetation and looked out towards the blue sea and she thought she could see the twinkle of the shiny metal of machines as the sunlight beat down in rays upon the entrance.

Chris radioed Tails' from the air to let him know he was coming in for landing, "Come in, Tails, this is Chris coming in for a landing. Do I have permission to bring her down, over," Chris said into the microphone.

I faint buzzing of white noise followed and then they heard Tails' voice come in over the radio, "You sure do, Chris. Feel free to land on runway one. I've got so much to show you and you're gonna be amazed at what I did with those water shoes you made for Sonic last time you were here and…"

"Ok, Tails, calm it down. I've got to land this thing. Oh yeah, I've got two other passengers with me. Just thought I'd let you know."

"Really, who? I mean anyone's welcome, of course," he responded.

Chris started to bank the plane to make his decent. "Oh, just some friends," he said back with a wink at Breeze. Breeze smiled excitedly and reached for the mike Chris had in his hand.

"Let me talk to him with that, Chris, please," she pleaded. Her tail was swishing back and forth excitedly and tickled Cream on the nose, causing her to laugh.

"Hey…was that Breeze?" Tails' voice asked from the other side of the radio.

"Yeah, hi, Tails! I'm coming to visit your workshop and see all the stuff you've invented. Cream is here too!" Breeze yelled excitedly into the microphone.

"That's great. The place is kind of a mess, I hope you don't mind," his voice came back sounding a little nervous.

"Of course, not! Hey, Chris, hurry up already." Breeze was getting very excited and Cheese, affected by her excitement, started to make chao noises and fly about the small cabin.

"Hold on a minute, Breeze. Try and calm down. You're making Cheese act up and I'm trying to fly this thing," Chris complained.


	9. Chapter 9: Hide and Seek

**Chapter 9:** Hide and Seek

He finally brought the plane to a halt on the runway in Tails' shop right next to the shining X Tornado. As soon as the cockpit opened, Breeze leapt out and excitedly glanced around the workshop. Her tail was swishing again as she took it all in through shinning blue eyes. There were so many little gadgets and machines scattered everywhere along with tools, dirty rags, wires, and one little green plant in a pot on the window sill. Cream jumped out with the help of Chris and Cheese followed after, cooing with excitement and zipping around the room.

"I wonder where Tails is," Chris said once he was standing beside Breeze.

Cream raced off after Cheese, uninterested in the amazing contraptions that Breeze was so intent on examining. The blue vixen picked up a strange looking machine that she found very interesting. It had a hole that looked like you would put a finger in it and it was brightly colored a red-pink and had a small screen attached on the top.

"What do you suppose this is, Chris," she asked and lifted it up for him to see.

He scratched his head," Beats me, you should ask Tails."

As if responding to his name, Tails emerged from the back rooms with a large box in his arms. He was hurrying forward and the box was rather large that it covered his face so he couldn't really see where he was going. This resulted in him tripping over a tool in his path and he fell sprawling on the ground while the box and its contents went spilling onto the floor all around him. Breeze and Chris rushed forward to help him up.

"Oh, Tails, are you alright?" Breeze asked. He looked up at her from the ground, embarrassed at his clumsiness, and nodded.

"Sorry, you guys, I didn't know you were already here or I would have come out sooner. I was just trying to tidy things up a little," Tails admitted. He had black dirt and grease smeared all over his face and arms. Breeze smiled and grabbed hold of his arm to help him up. Chris had already started to put the spilled contents back into the box.

"You didn't have to do all that for us. We're just you're friends, we don't care what the place looks like," Chris told him.

"Yeah, Tails. We like you all the same, messy or not," Breeze assured him and giggled after examining his face.

"What?" Tails asked, concerned.

"You have dirt all over your face," she said between giggles.

Tails got wide eyed and looked around for a rag he could wipe it with.

"No, no, it's ok. You're just gonna get it dirty again anyways," she said. "Hey, I was gonna ask you what this does." She held out the machine with the finger hole to distract him from worrying about what he looked like. Chris looked up from where he sat on the floor putting items back in the box to see what they were looking at.

"Oh, yeah, I made that for Amy a while ago to use on Sonic. It's supposed to be a love calculator, see, you put your finger in the hole right there and it tells you on the screen like how much love you have for someone in the room with you," he explained and showed her the finger hole.

"Oh wow," Breeze exclaimed.

"Does it work?" Chris asked.

"Not really. I guess you could believe it if you wanted to, but there's really no way to calculate love or any other emotion…" Tails was saying and was cut off by the sudden burst of noise the little machine started to make as soon as he put his finger in the hole to show Chris. The calculator started going off like crazy about how Tails was very much in love with a person standing very near him while pink hearts flashed on the screen and a large pink arrow pointed in Breeze's general direction. Tails blushed deeply and quickly handed the contraption to Chris.

"Like I said, it doesn't really work," he nervously chuckled and scratched his head behind his ears.

Chris put his finger in it and it made a little cheerful noise to inform him he was not in love with anyone in the room. "It worked for me," he said.

Tails didn't say anything but picked the box up again and started to carry it to a corner, putting things in it as he went. He cast nervous glances at Breeze and saw that she now had the source of his embarrassment. She put it on her finger and it lighted brightly telling her she had a little crush on a person in the room. She smiled at Chris and then looked over at Tails who she had noticed was peering at her from over his shoulder.

"It's kind of fun," she said. "Mind if I show it to Cream?"

"Sure go ahead, you can have it if you want," Tails replied.

"Oh thank you, Tails!" Breeze glowed. She rushed over to him, stumbled on something on the ground, and caught herself on a shelf nearby breaking a fragile piece of equipment in the process. Her hands came up to her mouth in shock and she quickly apologized.

"Oh, I am so sorry, Tails! I didn't mean to trip and I broke that…I could fix it or something. Let me make it up to you somehow…"

"Hey, it's ok, Breeze," he assured her and walked over to inspect what she had done. "There, see. It's only a little thing and not very important. You don't have to repay me in any way," he finished with a kind voice and smiled up at her from where he was bending over the broken piece of hardware. "It's really my fault for leaving that wrench on the ground right in your way."

She smiled back at him, "Only if you're sure it's ok?"

He nodded and she hugged him, gave him a small kiss on the cheek and raced outside to find Cream. Tails stood in shock bent over the shelf in the same position she had left him. Chris sauntered over to him and stood in front of him with arms crossed.

"You said you had some things to show me?" he asked quizzically.

"Oh, yeah, this way," Tails said snapping out of his stupor and leading Chris to a shelf full of more inventions for Sonic.

The two of them went through all of the new things and ideas that lay hidden in the cabinets such as jet propelled shoes for Sonic and a better vacuum cleaner for Vanilla as well as new ideas for more robots and space ships in the future. After a while, Chris decided he was going to have a little fun with the two tailed fox.

"So, Tails," he said slyly as they were polishing some silver parts for the X Tornado.

"Yeah, Chris?"

"Breeze certainly has cheered everyone up around here."

"Yes, she certainly has," Tails replied and fumbled a little with the large silver bolt.

"She's very talented, and she's pretty too. She's real cute," Chris continued. Tails nodded, keeping his eyes on his work.

"There's something about her, though that I can't really place. It's like she's special for some reason. What do you think?"

Tails stopped and looked at Chris, "About what?"

"About Breeze. You know, do you think there's something else about her, do you think she's pretty…talented…attractive?"

Tails stared wide eyed at Chris, his big blue eyes staring, and the silver bolt he was polishing slipped out of his fingers and hit the table with a thud. The noise jolted him out of the stare and he hurriedly picked it back up and started polishing again.

"We should really finish these, I've got a lot more to do," Tails said, feebly attempting to change the subject.

"We can talk while we finish them," Chris insisted. "So what do you think?"

"Um…uh," he cleared his throat," she's nice enough…and she shoots a bow and arrow really well. Better than anyone in the whole world I bet. And um…there's definitely something different…well special about her," Tails stumbled along.

"So you like her," Chris stated.

Tails fidgeted in his seat, "Well, of course I like her. Everyone does."

"Yeah, but you really like her."

Tails didn't answer. He was confused at why Chris was putting him on the spot like this. Of course he liked Breeze…as a friend. It's just that he was afraid…well nervous about it for some reason. She made him blush and feel all fuzzy inside when she was around and when she talked to him. And then when he would meet her gaze or when she would touch his hand, his heart would start beating real fast and he'd be afraid she would hear it. He could tell Chris all of this, but he was embarrassed to admit it. Chris would probably say he was in love with her, but there was a part of Tails that couldn't accept that. There was a part of him that still yearned for Cosmo. For the way he used to feel about her. The same blushing and fuzziness and heart beating feeling he felt about Breeze, but to a greater degree; to the point where he would say it to the world if he had to. He would say that he loved Cosmo from the top of a mountain at the top of his lungs.

He wished he could tell Chris how he felt, but that would end in more criticism. No one truly understood. No one had lost someone the way he had lost Cosmo.

Breeze and Cream ran in circles around the workshop Tails called home. They chased Cheese, they chased each other, and they chased the birds that came to sit in the trees and called loudly to and from one another. They put the love calculator on everything they could find. Trees, plants, other animals, each other and giggled at the results.

"So if you have a crush on someone nearby, how nearby does it mean? Is there anyone nearby that you like? Come on you have to tell me so we can know if this thing really works or not!" Cream squealed excitedly and danced around Breeze as they sat in the sunlight out in the grass.

"I don't really think I have a crush on anyone, Cream," Breeze said and laughed at Cream when she put her hands on her hips in a scolding fashion.

"It worked on me and predicted me right. You said it worked on Chris and it worked on Cheese, so of course it works on you!"

"It didn't work on Tails. It said he was in love with someone here and he said that was wrong."

"Then you must have a crush on Tails!" Cream exclaimed happily.

"What!? What makes you think that?" Breeze said and looked around to see if anyone else was listening.

"Because it said he was in love with someone near him and you were the only one near him so he _must_ be in love with you and it said you had a crush on someone near you so it must have been him…it all fits together!"

"What if it meant I had a crush on Chris? He was in there," Breeze asked with a smug look on her face.

Cream bent close to her and looked her in the eyes, "Do you have a crush on Chris?"

"No."

"And do you have a crush on Tails?"

"Well…"

"See, I was right! You were very quick to discard Chris so it must be Tails!" Cream hopped around again and Breeze thoughtfully considered her.

"I'm not admitting to anything when I say this but, you really are a smart rabbit," Breeze complimented.

"So we know the love calculator really works…wait a minute…that means Tails is in love with you!" she squealed again in excitement and hugged Breeze real hard. "I can't wait to tell my mom and—"

"Cream, please don't say anything about this. I mean I guess you can tell your mom but try and keep it quiet, ok? That would be real embarrassing for Tails if you told everyone," Breeze cut in. It would also be embarrassing especially since she didn't really believe the device worked and was pretty sure Tails was not in love with her. Wouldn't he have let her know in some way if he was?

"Ok, I promise I'll keep it a secret. You just better ask him about it soon so I won't have to be so secretive for along time!" Cream said.

"Alright, I'll try my best. In the meantime…what do you say to a game of hide and seek?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Cream cheered and Cheese chaoed with glee.

Breeze counted first, and soon found Cream hiding behind a massive tree. They then teamed up to go look for Cheese who was very good at hiding. They found him hidden in a pile of spare parts outside of the workshop and he made them chase him around for a few minutes before he finally gave in.

"Now it's your turn to hide and Cheese and I will look for you," Cream said excitedly and ran off to go hide her eyes.

Breeze looked around frantically for a good hiding place, and decided she might take her chances inside Tails' workshop. They'd never find her there! She crept into the room and looked around. Tails and Chris were nowhere in sight so she relaxed a little and started to look for a place to hide. There was a small cupboard up above the shelf that the little green plant she had seen earlier was sitting on. The cupboard looked just big enough to fit a little blue vixen and she excitedly clambered up onto the shelf. She first had to walk along the shelf to reach the cupboard and it wasn't going to be easy because the shelf was littered with all sorts of stuff that she had to step around. She finally came to the plant and took a big step over it, teetered a little and flung out her arms to regain her balance, and then smiled once she had accomplished her feat. She was so happy and excited that her tail started to swish again…and that's when she heard the crash. It sounded just like a pot hitting the ground and smashing apart, and she knew exactly what she had done. She stood frozen in her precarious position on the shelf and slowly looked down to see the small clay pot broken in pieces on the ground with dirt strewn all round it and the green two leafed plant lying on it's side in the scattered soil. She was still staring at the mess, wondering what she should do when she heard Chris's voice from across the room.


	10. Chapter 10: Down the Dumpster

**Chapter 10:** Down the Dumpster

"Oh, no! Breeze! You broke the pot!" Chris exclaimed from a doorway across the room. He was staring at her open mouthed with another box in his hands.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident. I was just trying to get to that cupboard and my tail hit it and knocked it off. I'm sure it will be okay, Tails forgave me for breaking that thing earlier and this is just a plant. I'll get him another one."

Chris looked around nervously and walked towards her and the plant's remains. "Um…it was a little more than just a plant, but maybe if we just clean it up and get rid of it he won't notice," Chris said and reached up to lift Breeze off of the shelf where she stood. "I'll go distract him and you get rid of the evidence, ok?"

Breeze nodded and went to get a plastic bag to put it in. Chris walked hurriedly to the back room where he and Tails had been looking for more parts. Maybe this would be a good thing, he thought as he walked back. If Tails doesn't notice the missing plant then it means he finally got over Cosmo and he'll see she doesn't mean so much anymore. On the other hand, if he does, then it'll be for the best that he just lets her go and starts something knew. Her presence won't be there holding him back. He just hoped Breeze didn't get into to much trouble. She didn't know anything about the Cosmo issue and she probably wouldn't understand.

Breeze finished sweeping the excess dirt up and was admiring her spotless work when she suddenly realized that Cream and Cheese were probably still looking for her. She picked up the bag and ran out of the shop to the dumpsters to throw the broken pot and dirt away. Once there she opened the heavy lid and dropped the bag in, only to realize she had dumped the actual plant in along with everything else. She had meant to keep the plant and repot it for Tails, but now it was somewhere in all the trash. It took all of her strength to lift the heavy lid again and lean in to see if she could get the bag back, but she leaned too far and fell in with the trash with a yell. The heavy lid slammed shut above her.

"Help! Someone help!" Breeze shouted from inside the stinky dark dumpster. She tried to stand up, but kept falling over the garbage. It was mostly old machine parts, but Tails must live nearby because she got quiet a lot of old food all over her fur, clothes, and hair as well. She finally just sat down and leaned against the wall, trying to keep her composure. The cramped spaces of the square metal dumpster she was in reminded her too much of her old prison cell and she started to get panicky. She closed her eyes and started counting to calm herself, and after a while she heard the creaking of someone opening a lid and a small crack of sunlight shot down into the darkness. She shielded her eyes and peered up to see a vague outline of Cream and Cheese looking down at her excitedly.

"Look, Cheese, you were right! She was in the trash! Hi, Breeze, we found you. You can come out now!" the excited little rabbit yelled down at her. Cheese chaoed along with her and Breeze saw that the chao was the one holding the lid open for the little rabbit girl.

"I can't get out, Cream. I'm stuck down here. The walls are too high and it's hard to stand up," Breeze shouted back and tried to lift herself out of the trash she had begun to sink into. "Please, go get help! I don't like it down here!"

"Ok, Breeze, we'll be right back. Just stay where you are!" the little rabbit yelled. She was starting to get worried and she and Cheese left right away. The lid slammed shut again leaving Breeze in darkness.

Minutes passed by and finally Breeze's ears perked up at voices coming towards the dumpsters. "I wish you two wouldn't hide in those back rooms so it's so hard to find you. Breeze has been in there for a long time and it's dark and scary!" she heard a high girly voice saying. The little chao, Cheese, chaoed sternly to add emphasis to Cream's statement.

Breeze eagerly tried to pull herself up again and listened for the lid to creak open. It finally did and sunlight poured into the dark cage she was trapped in. Chris, who had much more strength than the others, held the lid wide opened. "I'm sorry, Cream, we didn't know that Breeze would do something like throw herself in the garbage or we would have been more watchful," Chris explained and looked down into the dumpster for Breeze.

"I hope she's okay," Breeze heard Tails say and he poked his head over the rim to look for Breeze too.

"Hey, Breeze, we're gonna get you out okay. Just hold on!" Chris said when he saw the eager little vixen looking up at them with expectant eyes. She nodded but didn't leave her place where she had her hands on the wall of the dumpster and her feet standing on a piece of siding metal.

Chris turned to Tails to talk about what they could do to pull her out. "We could get a rope and just lower it down to her or if you have a ladder we could get her to climb out."

"Or, I could fly down there and lift her out," Tails said with a smile.

Chris laughed, "Oh yeah, I forgot you could fly. That would be much less complicated."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Cream said impatiently.

"Hold the lid up for me, ok Chris," Tails said.

Chris gave him a thumbs up and Tails spun his tails around and around until he lifted off the ground like a helicopter and then slowly descended into the opened trash chute. He touched down next to Breeze, stumbled around a little, trying to regain his balance in the shifting trash, and was immediately embraced by Breeze who trembled as she buried her face in the white fur on his chest.

"Thank you, Tails," she whispered into his chest quietly.

He hugged her back and felt his heart beating faster in like it always did when she hugged him. He then lifted her up into his arms and twirled his tails around until he lifted off the ground again and flew towards the lighted opening of the dumpster that Chris still held opened.

Once back out in the light and free air, Breeze started feeling better. She was a little disappointed when Tails landed because the flying had been fun. Maybe he would take her flying again sometime.

"Uh, Tails, you can put her down now," Chris suggested when Tails had landed but still held Breeze in his arms where she rested against his chest.

"Oh, yeah," he said as if realizing and gently put her down. She stood a little shakily and put her hand on his shoulder for support.

"Thanks, guys. I was really scared down there. I kind of reminded me of Eggman's cell," she said and looked gratefully at everyone.

"Ew, Breeze! You sure do smell bad!" Cream exclaimed and out a hand up to her nose.

"I do! Oh, I'm sorry. I should get cleaned up," Breeze said and stepped away from Tails.

"We'll take you back to Vanilla's house. I think you've had enough for one day," Chris told her and started to escort her back. She tried to keep her distance as they all walked back, but she was still a little weak from all she had been through the past few days and she kept wobbling and feeling faint. Tails noticed and approached her.

"Here," he said, "I'll carry you again."

"No, I'm ok," she insisted and drew back a little, still conscious of the way she smelled and how she must look.

"It's ok, Breeze. I really don't care how you smell. You look like you're about to fall over. That's what bothers me," he said and reached out to her again.

"No, really I…whoa," she put her hand on her head and wobbled again, almost blacking out. Tails caught her and picked her up again. He carried her to the workshop and she tried to stay as far away from his face as she could while he carried her which didn't work very well since they where both about the same size and she didn't have much room to maneuver in his arms.

When they approached the front of Tails' shop they found none other than Sonic waiting for them. He had a bright smile on his blue face and he chuckled when he saw Breeze. "Hey there, little buddy. It looks like you fell down a dumpster or something," he said.

Breeze giggled and struggled out of Tails' arms to greet her speedy hedgehog friend. She stumbled forward and Sonic caught her as she laughed in delight when he spun her around in a circle. Tails felt a flare of jealousy rise up in his heart, but he stifled it and waived at Sonic in greeting. Chris smiled and answered Sonic's implied question.

"She was playing hide and seek with Cream and Cheese and she tried to hide in the dumpster and fell in," he said, though he suspected the reason she was in the trash was because of the plant she had just thrown away.

As if to confirm his suspicions Breeze said, "But, Chris, I wasn't –"

"You can tell us later. We should get you home first," Chris cut in with a meaningful stare at Breeze and a motion towards Tails. Breeze nodded and Sonic looked at Chris with a question in his eyes. Chris waived him off and he shrugged.

"I'll go ahead and run her home; you guys can stay here and finish what you were doing. Bring Cream and Cheese back with you when you're done," Sonic said and lifted Breeze up into his arms where she snuggled in close as he prepared to start running. "Oh and Chris, you and I need to have a chat when you get back." He winked and then sped off down the side of the mountain with Breeze shouting in excitement at his speed, her blonde hair blowing wild.

"Bye, bye Sonic and Breeze!" Cream shouted to no avail after them.

Tails stared at the spot where Sonic had vanished and sighed, "What is it about him, Chris? Everybody automatically likes him as soon as they look at him no matter what. Did you see Breeze? She worships him and I was the one who saved her from the garbage."

"I don't know, Tails. Sonic just has that way of making someone feel safe and brave. He's a real hero and a great friend who would never let you down. He even would have stayed with me back in my world if I asked him too."

"I guess you're right, Chris."

"But hey, don't let that get you down, Tails. You're a hero too and Breeze knows that," Chris said and patted Tails on the back. Tails smiled up at him and they both went back into the workshop while Cream laughed with delight as she chased Cheese around the yard.

* * *

**Does anyone know of another way to describe the way Cheese sounds? Anyways, thanks for reviews and please continue!**


	11. Chapter 11: The Truth Comes Out

**Chapter 11:** The Truth Comes Out

Breeze loved it when Sonic would run with her. He was so fast! It was one of the most fun things she'd ever done and probably ever would do. Now all she had to do was to get Tails to take her flying; both in his fast planes and just with his own amazing ability to fly. She sat in the living room of Vanilla's house with a cup of hot chocolate, listening to Amy humming in the kitchen and the crackling of the fireplace in the den. The atmosphere was peaceful and snugly, like nothing could possibly go wrong, when she heard the sound of the X Tornado landing outside the house and the patter of feet running towards the front door. Cream burst in with Cheese in tow calling for her momma, obviously frightened. Breeze looked up from the couch, startled as Vanilla came down and embraced her daughter asking what was wrong. A second later Tails came bursting into the room, much like Cream but with a wild look on his face, and started to search the house yelling for Sonic the whole time. Chris was the last to come meekly and warily through the door and calmly close it behind him.

Breeze looked at him, stunned and with question in her eyes. He sadly shook his head and walked over to her.

"He found out about the plant…it's really bad," he said quietly to her.

She stood up, setting the hot cup down." Did you tell him?" she asked hurriedly.

Chris looked abashed, "No…I really didn't have time once he found out he jumped in the X Tornado and took off. I had to bring Cream and Cheese back in the Hyper Tornado."

"Oh…I should tell him then. He looks really upset."

"No, don't. This will blow over and be for the best. Just let me handle it for now. I know a little more about this than you do," Chris reassured her and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him skeptically and then Tails came around the corner.

"I can't find him, Chris! I just know he did something with her! I mean, who else would have the nerve!" he yelled, panicked.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy. What did I do and with who?" came Sonic's voice as he entered the room with a casual air as always despite the frantic fox.

"Sonic! What did you do with her! Where is my plant?!" Tails yelled and ran forward until he was standing in front of Sonic, beating at his arms.

"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything with it. I brought Breeze back and I've been here the whole time," Sonic said trying to push the fox away.

"You're lying!"

Breeze couldn't take it. She knew Chris had told her to stay out of it but she couldn't stand by and watch her hero get blamed for something she did and then get called a liar. He didn't even know she had broken the plant, unlike Chris did, and probably was confused about the whole deal. She took a deep breath and stepped out from behind Chris.

"Tails, I did it," she shouted at him with clenched fists and sequenced her eyes shut.

"Breeze! What are you doing?!" Chris exclaimed in the background as Tails abruptly stopped beating on Sonic and slowly turned in her direction.

"Stop blaming Sonic for something he never did and listen to me. It's my fault, I broke your plant. Now leave Sonic alone!" She kept her eyes squeezed shut…and there was absolute silence. She slowly opened them to reveal Sonic staring at her with a shocked look on his face, Chris with his head in his hands in exasperation, and Tails staring at her with tears in his eyes and a look of complete horror distorting his features.

She didn't know what to do. Why was he getting so worked up over a stupid little plant? "I'm Sorry, I was playing hide and seek with Cream and I tried to climb up on the shelf to get to a hiding place and I knocked it off the shelf on accident," she said in a small voice trying to make him say something.

"Maybe it's okay," Sonic offered. "Breeze you could just tell us where you put it and we can replant it."

"I threw it away…in the dumpster."

"YOU THREW COSMO IN A DUMPSTER!" Tails yelled at her, coming out of his stupor and clenching his fists in anger. "We'll never get her back now! They probably already took her to the trash disposal center!"

Breeze looked at Tails with fury, she was really angry now! How dare he yell at her about that stupid plant? She didn't even know what this was about. Confusion and hurt had made her angry and she wasn't going to take all of this mystery anymore.

"Oh, shut up, Tails! Stop freaking out over that plant! Maybe if you had told me it was special or something I would have been more careful! I don't know who Cosmo is or what she has to do with anything and I don't understand why it would make you so upset to loose your plant and I don't really CARE anymore! I'm sick of trying to understand you when you won't tell me anything! Thanks for making me feel like part of the family! I hate you!" She shouted back at his very shocked face and then turned abruptly and ran out of the room, tears streaming down her face.

She ended up in the room Vanilla had set up for her upstairs and sat on the bed fuming inside as the tears kept on falling. She hated being in the dark and being responsible for something that she couldn't figure out why was such a crime. If Tails had only told her…maybe she wouldn't be so upset. Nothing would have happened in the first place. Then she started to think about her own situation. She was doing the same thing to everyone else that Tails was doing to her. She was leaving everyone in the dark about her past. They wouldn't know if they did something to hurt her. They didn't know about her.

The X Tornado took off outside and Breeze lifted her head at the sound. Maybe Tails had left. She wouldn't have to look at his face anymore, his horrible grief ridden face that she had caused him to put on. Her door creaked and Chris came in very cautiously with a concerned look on his face.

"Breeze, are you alright?" he asked her.

She smiled up at him and nodded. "I'm sorry I went crazy like that. I was just so confused and hurt that what I did was so wrong," she sniffed and wiped an eye.

Chris, seeing that it was okay, went over and sat on her bed next to her. "Sonic said I should let Tails tell you himself about Cosmo, but if you want me to I'll tell you now. He could probably tell you so you'd understand a little better than I would, though."

"No, I don't want to know. If he doesn't think I'm important enough to tell something like that too, then I don't even care. Personally I hope I never have to talk to him again," she forced out and tears started coming down her face again.

"Aw, Breeze, you don't mean that," Chris said uncertainly. She didn't answer and he continued, "It's just a subject very close to his heart. Talking about it makes him feel the same way you feel when someone asks you about your family. Cosmo was very special to him and…he had to kill her in order to save the galaxy."

Breeze looked at him, confusion in her eyes and then looked down. She wiped her tears and looked back up, "Well, Chris, I'm not going to be like Tails. I'm going to tell you what happened to me and to my family. I won't have anymore secrets."

Chris settled back and waited for breeze to start. She took a deep breath, and then a thought crossed her features and she looked up at Chris, "Shouldn't I tell everyone? I mean everyone should have the right to hear this and it's really painful to tell it even once. I'd hate to tell it numerous times."

"Sure, how about we call a conference where everyone is invited and listens to your story," Chris suggested in response to her heartfelt request and pleading blue eyes.

"Ok, that sounds good. Thank you," Breeze said quietly, looking at her hands.

"I'll go do it right now," Chris said and jumped up off the bed to go tell the others to meet in Vanilla's living room. As he was walking out the door he heard Breeze call him back.

"Chris, don't bring Tails, ok. I don't think I could handle seeing him and talking about this in front of him right now."

"Ok, I'll see what I can do."

* * *

**Next comes a pretty long story about Breeze's past so it could get a little boring. I have to put it in there though because it kind of explains some things that have to do with Shadow. Just bear with me through it and the next chapters will be more exciting! R&R!**


	12. Chapter 12: The Shadowed Past

**Here's the chapter I was talking about...Breeze's past life. If you do read it all through, feel free to tell me what you thought...just no flames! Next chapter coming up will be better. Thanks!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 12:** The Shadowed Past

A few hours later, everyone was gathered in the living room awaiting Breeze to come tell her story. Vanilla sat on a couch with Cream and Cheese in her lap, worrying about what the poor little vixen was about to put herself through. Amy sat on the floor in front of Vanilla deep in her thoughts and thinking about possibly lightening up a little. Maybe that was why Sonic avoided her. Surprisingly enough, Knuckles was there also. He stood nearby, arms crossed with a frown on his face as usual. Amy had asked why he was there and why he even cared, to which he replied he needed to know what kind of problems Breeze might have that he needed to be on his guard against. Finally, Sonic leaned on the wall near Amy in a nonchalant sort of way, though everyone knew he was just as anxious as they were. Tails was no where to be seen. Sonic hadn't been able to find him, much to Breeze's relief so he would have to learn of this later.

Breeze and Chris soon came down the stairs. Breeze surveyed her audience, wiping tears from her eyes as they occasionally fell and walked over to the couch opposite Vanilla so she could face them. She sat down and Chris sat down beside her.

"I'm here to tell all of you who I really am…where I'm from. It's hard," she said, looking down at her tail which she had in her hands, "to talk about this so if I start to cry, don't worry about me. I'm kind of hurt right now as it is so…anyways." She looked up, composed herself, and began her story.

"I grew up with my mother, father, and little brother in a little village on Mobius called Foxdell. You wouldn't know about it because it was destroyed not to long ago. My little brother's name was Gust. We were the best of friends and went everywhere together. Of course, before he was born, there was just me and when I was a baby my mother and father took me to Foxdell's annual fair. That was where I first got into archery. I saw an archery range and the three of us watched as the professional archers shot their arrows, straight and true, at distant targets. Another fox approached us and asked if we wanted to try, so my father got a bow and an arrow and gave them to me. He held it for me because I was very little then and showed me how to shoot. When he handed the bow over to me I drew it back, fired, and hit the little target they had set up for small children perfectly in the center. My parents, astonished, let me try again and again and I hit the target in the same place again and again. That's when they realized my gift and put me in archery classes as soon as I was old enough. As you can imagine, I was top of my class and excelled in every form of archery. The teachers thought I was a genius, some thought I was a freak, but I didn't care because my parents thought I was the most wonderful child in the world and loved me so much. They bought me the bow I have now at a very high price because they wanted the best for me.

"My little brother, Gust, was born a few years later but there was never anything extraordinary about him. Because of that he would be made fun of all the time for being the dummy in my shadow, but I loved him all the same. As I said before, we were the best of friends and I showed him and taught him everything even if it took awhile for him to understand. He was very good at music, however, once he learned it and from then on I never saw him without something musical in his hand.

"Anyways, one day a shadow came over our village. It was, in fact, the Shadow. Shadow the hedgehog. He was sent to kidnap me by Eggman for reasons I still do not know. I guess it was because I was so skilled at something that he thought I may be used against him. The village, because they loved me so much, tried to protect me. They wouldn't let Shadow get anywhere near me, so he took my family instead," Breeze choked up a little and tears started to run freely down her face again. She breathed deep, trying to fight them back and Chris put a hand on her arm. She started again, lost in the memory of her troubled past.

"Shadow told us that Dr. Eggman would never let my family go unless I was turned over. I was all for it, but my family, of course, wasn't and begged to remain in captivity rather than give me up. The townsfolk all agreed that they would not give me up and tried to come up with a plan to rescue the captives, but I was too impatient and worried and young. I ran away…I ran to Eggman's ship right outside the village to rescue them. Once on board I found them and tried desperately to free them, only… Shadow appeared and chased me. I ran all around the ship looking for somehow to save my family while avoiding Shadow and I ended up in the generator room where the ship's power came from. Shadow cornered me there and I couldn't get away. I can still see him; advancing on me getting closer…I panicked. I grabbed my bow and shot at the generator hoping to distract him with an explosion, but my arrows were tipped with explosives and it caused an even bigger effect than I imagined. I blew it up. The explosion proceeded to blow the rest of the ship apart and Shadow used a chaos emerald to teleport me off before I was killed. My parents didn't make it. Later I found out the village of Foxdell had been destroyed as well. The exploding ship had taken the town and everyone who lived in it. They are all dead.

"I was put in the prison cell where Sonic found me and had to live with myself and what I'd done ever since…" she broke off crying and turned towards Chris who held her close. The whole room stood still as if frozen. Tears streamed down Cream and Vanilla's face. Knuckles looked more solemn than ever and stared at the ground. Amy with tears in her eyes sniffed, but did not move and Sonic, after a while, moved swiftly to Breeze's side where she immediately left Chris for him and crammed herself into his chest as if she wanted to escape from the world that had given her so much pain for such a young vixen.

"I had no idea your past was that painful. I haven't even come close to experiencing what you have felt for along time. I'm so sorry, Breeze," Sonic whispered into her ear. She nodded and hugged him closer, not able to show her face. The memories she had buried so deep inside were now fresh in her mind again and the faces of her family in pain yet still loving her with every breath they possessed was still branded in her head.

"They still loved me; they still love me even after what I did. I killed them and destroyed my town, my life, in one stupid panic attack. I'll never forgive myself!" she whined into Sonic's fur. "I try to forget, to appear cheerful and happy when I hurt inside. I blame Shadow and Eggman, but it never replaces the fact that it was actually me that shot the fatal arrow. They weren't even going to hurt my family and I succeeded in doing worse than that!"

"Shhhhh, it's ok. It's not your fault," Sonic soothed.

"Yes it is, how could it not be! I killed them! It was me," she cried again and pounded Sonic's arm.

"No, Breeze, it really isn't," Amy offered after getting over the silence that had come over her. "Eggman would have probably destroyed them anyway—"

"Let me talk to her," Knuckles' deep voice interrupted and everyone gasped. He walked over to the weeping vixen. She looked up at him with wide eyes wet with tears and he knelt so his face was level with hers.

"Now there, don't cry. You loved you family didn't you?" he asked softly looking into her eyes. The room was still with shock. Knuckles being kind and considerate to Breeze was unheard of!

Breeze nodded, "Very much."

"Then you were not responsible. How can you blame yourself for trying to rescue them? It was a terrible accident. You didn't know and you couldn't have known. They wouldn't want you to live in guilt and pain; they would want you to remember them only at the good times and in the best places. Stop your crying and never think of them as a bad memory again. You cannot live that way."

Breeze stared at him. He offered her his hand as if to shake and she instead leaned forward and embraced him. He was surprised, but let her have her way for awhile until he realized that everyone in the room was staring in complete amazement at him. He decided he had gone too far and pushed her away. He stood up, looked down at her, and then winked so that only she noticed. He walked towards the door without looking back and was gone.

Knuckles leaving seemed to break the spell on everyone. As Breeze stared dumbfounded at the place where Knuckles had last been, they started to murmur and soon everyone was commenting on how terrible the story was and saying how sorry they were for the little blue vixen. Vanilla scooped her away from Sonic and said tearfully that she was taking Breeze to bed and asked Amy to make her something hot. Amy immediately sprang to the kitchen and Cream followed with Cheese while Sonic went to help tuck Breeze in. He paused on the staircase and said to Chris, "Thanks, buddy for getting her to open up like that."

Chris swallowed, "Sure, Sonic, but it was mainly that fight with Tails that caused her to tell her story. I wish he was here to have heard that. I bet he would have softened right away."

"Yeah, but you know, Tails really isn't mad at Breeze. He's mad at himself. He has some memories to get over too. I'll go look for him after I make sure Breeze is ok."

"Ok, Sonic. Hey, what was all that with Knuckles? I thought he hated her guts," Chris asked.

"Who knows, Knuckles is strange at times and he's very gullible. I bet he couldn't resist her cute tear stained face!"

"Yeah…I'm glad she's here. She makes everything seem better than it really is."

"That she does, buddy. But don't worry about us ever getting rid of her; she has a place here forever."

"I just hope she doesn't change after that story. I sure would hate to see her depressed all the time. I wish Tails hadn't been so angry."

"Hmmm, I think if we got the two of them together then they might just help each other. Both have lost someone they cared about," Sonic said thoughtfully.

"But Breeze said she never wanted to see him again!"

"I'm sure we could do something about that. Besides, she probably didn't really mean it," Sonic replied and then rushed upstairs.


	13. Chapter 13: The Kidnapping

**Chapter 14:** The Kidnapping

Breeze lay curled up in blankets on her bed. Vanilla had tucked her in and promised some hot food, but Breeze didn't think she would be able to eat anything right now. She was very grateful for Vanilla and her hospitality. Vanilla acted as a second mother and cared for Breeze with all her heart. She had told Breeze that since she had no family she was welcomed to stay with Cream and herself for however long she liked. Breeze felt as though she finally belonged and it brought the tears back when she thought of how much she loved everyone here. They all cared and didn't criticize; even Knuckles had had kind words to say. It was too good to be true.

That was how Sonic found her when he came up to tell her goodnight. She perked her ears forward at his footsteps, but did not get up from the bed or move much for fear of crying again. She had cried way too much that night.

"Hey, Breezy," Sonic said once he was next to her. "Are you awake?"

She nodded. If she spoke she felt for sure the water works would happen again.

"I just came up to check on you and make sure you were ok," he leaned over and gave her a small kiss on the head and started to walk away. "Get some rest, kid."

"Sonic…where are you going?" Breeze asked suddenly and sat up afraid for some reason that she would never see him again.

"I'm going to look for Tails. I'm worried about him. He's upset and it's getting late."

"Ok…you should go. Just come back ok?" she said dejectedly.

"Sure, as soon as I know he's ok. Is there anything you want me to tell him for you?"

"You can tell him about my family, but I don't have anything particular to say…only…I don't hate him, Sonic," Breeze whispered and angrily shook her head when she felt the tears starting to trickle down her face. "Oh I wish I could stop crying!"

Sonic came back over and sat on the bed. He pulled her to him and held her in his arms again as she sobbed into his blue fur. "Go ahead and cry, Breeze. Get it all out of your system," he soothed.

"I still feel so bad, Sonic. I feel bad about everything and in every way. Just tell Tails I don't hate him," she sobbed again and hugged Sonic closer. "It's the last thing I said to him."

"I will, Breeze," Sonic said and gave her one last squeeze before he tucked her back in, dried her eyes, and quietly walked out the door to search for Tails. She soon fell asleep and Sonic hoped she would feel better. He loved that little vixen and hated to see her in such a state. Now if only Tails could help out and get over Cosmo his job would be a little easier.

Tails sat down on a pile of dirt mixed with who knows what else at the Mobius trash disposal center. It was more like a dumping ground except every so often the trash would be swept into a giant disintegrator, that Tails had helped build, and be zapped into nothingness. That way the planet was never contaminated with waste and pollution.

It was a little smelly here, and very dirty as Tails proved at the moment. He was covered in soot from ears to tails and he smelled like Breeze had smelled after falling into the dumpster, but ten times worse. He had been searching for hours in the trash, hoping to find Cosmo before she was disintegrated. It was an impossible task. There was just too much garbage and the disintegrator kept destroying more and more. He would never find her. He put his head in his hands and curled his tails around himself. He felt cold and dejected, but also like a monster for saying those things and reacting that way to Breeze. She was right. He hadn't told her about Cosmo and it wasn't her fault; she didn't know.

Now she hated him. She had said so and it had torn him apart so badly that he had to run as far away as he could. That's why he was here. No one could find him here and he could busy himself, trying to find the last small little piece he still had of the one he had loved. Now even that seemed gone for good and he felt as if he had nothing at all in the world.

"Oh, Cosmo, I'm sorry," he said aloud believing that maybe somewhere she could hear him. His eyes welled up with tears and he let them fall.

"It's Breeze you should be apologizing to, little brother," a voice that sounded suspiciously like Sonic's said behind him.

"Even if I could she wouldn't let me see her to tell her. She wouldn't believe me either, she hates me," Tails said without turning. He continued to cry not caring that his almost big brother, Sonic, stood behind him to see. He wondered how Sonic found him, but then realized Sonic could run faster than the X Tornado and making a quick trip to the other side of Mobius was really no problem for him.

"What are you doing here, Sonic?" Tails asked before Sonic could respond to his statement about Breeze.

"I came to check on you, buddy," Sonic said and sat down next to the depressed fox. "I was worried…and Breeze told us about her past and how she ended up in Eggman's ship so I thought you'd like to know too."

"I guess I should have been there, huh?"

"Yeah…she told us right after the fight with you so she was pretty worked up. She cried through the whole story. I didn't know she could hold so much water! But it's real sad what happened to her parents and her town. She told me I could tell you about it."

"Oh, ok. I guess I could hear it," Tails said and then sighed. "I couldn't find Cosmo." The tears started to flow down his cheeks more freely and he sniffed them back.

"That seed and that plant wasn't really Cosmo, Tails," Sonic said quietly.

"I know, but it was the only thing I had left of her. I forgave myself for what I did, I had to. She didn't want me to be full of guilt, but it can't stop me from feeling sad that she's gone."

"Well, you still have that picture we took…and your memories of her," Sonic offered with a smile and put his arm around Tails' shoulder.

"Tails looked up at him and smiled weakly, "You're right, Sonic. She's with me wherever I go, I guess. It's time for me to let her go."

"That's the way, little brother! Of course, you'll still remember her, but you won't let her consume you until you feel all miserable inside like you were before. Just think fondly of the happy memories you had with her and talk about her with others who loved her too," Sonic said standing up and held out his hand to help Tails up. Tails smiled again with more confidence and took Sonic's hand. He dusted himself off a little and then said, "I'll still miss her though. I love her, Sonic."

"I know you do, Tails, and you always will."

"Thanks, Sonic," Tails said and gave him a hug.

"Your welcome, now let's get back."

A clouded look of pain crossed Tails' face again when Sonic said that. "But Sonic, I can't go back right now. Breeze…" he broke off and looked at the ground.

"Are you sorry for yelling at her?" Sonic asked.

"Yes, of course."

"Then tell her and she'll forgive you."

"She said she never wanted to see me again and she hates me," Tails said quietly and in a tearful voice.

"She doesn't hate you, Tails. She told me herself. She's sorry for saying that to you. She's real upset now and I'm sure a visit from you would cheer her up."

"I don't think I could face her. I messed up bad. If she ever thought I was her hero, she doesn't anymore. You're her hero, Sonic. She likes you better than me."

"That's just not true, Tails. She likes you just the same as me if not more. That's why it crushed her so much to be yelled at by you. What she needs most right now is you and you know that. You can save her from staying in this mode of depression she's in and I'll tell you why on the way back. Come on, buddy, let's go. I promised her I'd come back once I found you," Sonic explained putting his arm around Tails' shoulder and walking him forward to the X Tornado.

Tails walked along with him in acceptance. He was scared inside of the look Breeze would give him, but maybe if what Sonic said was true and she didn't hate him he could get a chance to explain to her about Cosmo. It was all he wanted to do; make her understand so she might be able to forgive him.

Tails flew the X Tornado back to Vanilla's house. He landed the powerful machine on the small runway and shut her down. Sonic sprang out of the ship and turned back to wait for Tails who slowly climbed out of the cockpit and walked up to him.

"'You ready, Tails?" Sonic asked.

"I guess…I'm nervous and shaky."

"It'll be alright," Sonic said and then fell back onto the pavement as Amy dashed out of the house and hugged him with so much force he was knocked backwards. Vanilla, Cream, and Cheese ran out of the house, too. Vanilla was on the phone with someone and Cream and Cheese clung to her in a scared manner. Chris sprinted out as well but was beat to the story by Amy.

"Sonic! Oh, Sonic!" Amy sobbed as he lifted himself back off the ground with a grunt. "It's terrible! Breeze is gone! Someone kidnapped her! There were signs of struggle in her room and she wasn't there! Vanilla's calling the Chaotix, but I know all we need is you to go save her, Sonic!"

Sonic was shocked but he pulled himself together. "It must have been Shadow! He figured out where she was. How could I have been so stupid after hearing that story?! Of course Eggman wants her back!"

Tails stood frozen in place as Sonic asked how long it had been since this happened and if anyone had seen the flash of Chaos control that Shadow used. Sonic had told him about Breeze's past on the trip back and now Tails realized how bad this could be for Breeze. Being put back in that prison cell with her old memories may ruin her forever. Shadow couldn't have picked a worse time to snatch her. They had to get her back!

"I told Vector the situation. He and his group are going to start looking for her," Vanilla said in a shaky voice. "I shouldn't have left her, Sonic. I'm so sorry!"

"It's nobody's fault. We'll just go get her back and keep a better eye on her. You guys stay here. I'll go get Knuckles and we'll be back before you know it," Sonic assured them and was about to race of when Tails yelled, "Wait a minute, Sonic! I'm coming too! I want to help save her."

"Tails you don't have to prove—"

"Hey, me too! I can help and besides you might need me!" Amy exclaimed as well and rushed over to where Tails was already getting the X Tornado fired up.

Chris joined them, "You're gonna need us, Sonic. We can help get Breeze out while you hold Shadow off. It's the only way."

"Ok,ok,ok! You guys can come, sheesh!" Sonic said exasperated. "But you have to keep up!" With that he sped away towards Angel Island to find Knuckles, and Tails launched the X Tornado forward after him as fast as it would go.

_We'll get you back, Breeze, I promise! I still need to tell you I'm sorry. Just hold on!_


	14. Chapter 14: A New Found Friend

**Chapter 14:** A New Found Friend

Shadow descended into the dark again to check on his captive. It had been all too easy, but he wished Eggman hadn't made him capture her again. They did need her, that was for certain, the power she possessed could help them find the chaos emeralds! Sonic and his friends were too stupid to see just how special she really was…only she was happy there and he liked it when she was happy. He'd just have to try his best to make her happy here, which wasn't going to be easy since she was so depressed at the moment and wouldn't say anything. Maybe it was because he wasn't very talkative. He'd just have to try harder to be a little friendlier this time.

He entered the dark room and spotted her curled against the wall of her cage, shaking so badly that her whole body moved. Shadow paused a moment and listened to see if the leaking water pipe he had fixed earlier for her was leaking again. Satisfied that it wouldn't bother her, he continued to approach the iron bars that held her captive in the dark cell. He studied her and as he did his heart filled with pity. She laid there, small, weak, fragile, and pitiful quietly wallowing in a sadness Shadow could understand. He was there when she had destroyed Eggman's ship along with her home and family. He wished there was something more he could do, but Eggman wanted her here until he was certain Sonic wouldn't try to rescue her. It would almost be better if Sonic did rescue her.

The black hedgehog opened the door after a while and stepped inside the prison. He approached the trembling blue vixen, paused again and thought about how to make friendly conversation, cursed himself for being an idiot and thinking he _could_ start a friendly conversation or that she would even listen to him, and backed away. He was almost out the cage door when she lifted her head and stared at him with piercing blue eyes wet with tears. Her ears drooped forward and her bushy tail was limp on the cold floor. He paused, looking at her over his shoulder, and she shakily stood up to her full height and warily approached him. Shadow didn't move, wondering what the vixen planned to do. She couldn't possibly escape; he was to fast even if her talent helped her find a way out. He waited, watching her with his deep red eyes until she finally stood by his side, and when she wobbled he instinctively reached out and caught her. She leaned against him, buried her face into his chest, and he felt the warm trickle of tears soaking into his black fur. She sobbed for a while and then whimpered quietly, "I'm sorry, Shadow. I don't blame you for what happened anymore and I'm sorry if I ever did."

Shadow stood frozen in shock as Breeze continued to clutch him and cry. She repeatedly told him she was sorry and wanted him to forgive her as she entwined her fingers in his fur. He finally recovered from the shock of being embraced and apologized to instead of the hateful hits or words he had expected and said in a calming but deep voice, "There's nothing to forgive."

She sniffed and said a little forcefully, "Yes there is. I blamed you for destroying all that I loved and held closest to my heart, but now I'm accepting that it was me who killed them and all the blame should rest on my own shoulders." Her face was still in his chest when she said this and it came out a little muffled, but Shadow understood perfectly.

"It was my fault. If I hadn't been chasing you it never would have happened," he said carefully, not sure how his words would cause Breeze to react.

"You can think what you'd like, but I'm not blaming anyone for anything anymore," was all she said and he didn't push the issue. They stayed like that for a minute more; Shadow standing still and rigid beneath Breeze's frantic grasp, until he finally placed his hands on Breeze's shoulders and pulled her off of him so he could leave. He thought she might like something to eat or maybe Rouge could come down and do something about her. He had never been in a situation like this before and was a little uncomfortable.

As he pushed her away she got a frantic look in her eye and tried to grab any part of him she could. Her sudden action startled him and he let go of her only to be immediately embraced again and have the blonde head jammed back into it's place on his chest.

"No, please don't go away! I hate being alone down here in the dark with their faces haunting me. Please just stay with me, please…" she pleaded again and stroked his fur with her hands.

Shadow had never been so amazed and surprised in his life. Someone actually wanted him. Someone valued his presence enough to plead and cry for him. He had never felt this way before and he put arms around her small body to see what her reaction would be. She sighed when she felt the warmth of his arms and snuggled closer, her whimpering ceasing and quieted to small sniffs and sobs. He hugged her closer and slowly moved with her to a wall of the cell that he could lean against. He sat down with her in his lap, still burying into his soul, and he gently stroked her messy blonde hair with one hand while his other cradled her protectively. This was a completely new feeling. He felt comfortable and warm. He felt caring and protecting. He felt what it must feel like to be loved, a feeling that he hadn't felt in a long, long time.

"I won't ever leave you, Breeze," he whispered to her and watched as she soon fell into a restful and contented sleep in his dark arms.

That was how Rouge found them. Both were asleep, her in his arms, leaning up against a cold prison wall. The sassy jewel thief shook her head at the sight and chuckled. Shadow could be so strange at times and he always developed the strangest relationships in the oddest places with the oddest people.

"Hey, Shadow. Whatcha' doing to that poor kid?" she said to him as she knelt down beside his black form.

He jerked with a start, looked around wildly and then remembered where he was. He turned to look at her coldly. "That's none of your business, thief."

She laughed again and poked him in the side. "You didn't just steal that little foxy again so you could cuddle with her did you? I never took you for much of a cuddly person."

He glared at her and felt the heat of embarrassment rise up in his cheeks. Despite what he felt, he still didn't get up from his position with Breeze. He only coolly said, "What are you doing here, Rouge?"

"I came down to see if you really had captured the little girl again. What are you doing here…other than the obvious?"

"She didn't want me to leave her…if that's what you mean. She doesn't like to be alone down here," Shadow said and he brushed some strands of gold hair from Breeze's sleeping face.

"Aw, how sweet. Shadow has a little girl friend!" Rouge teased and Shadow ignored her.

"Why don't you just leave," he said.

"Actually, I'm not the only one who's going to be leaving. I forgot to mention that Eggman wants to see the girl and she'll be coming with me," Rouge said with a sly grin and reached out to take Breeze from him.

Shadow moved Breeze away from her grasp. "No she won't be going with you, I'm taking her."

"Suite yourself," the bat shrugged and flew out of the cage with beating wings. She hovered in the room and looked back at Shadow. "Well, you coming?"

Shadow frowned at her and then lifted Breeze into both of his arms. He slowly stood up and walked out of the cell, cradling the sleeping vixen carefully so not to jostle her when he stepped. Rouge led the way and the two of them made their way down the hallway back into the dimly lighted fortress. Rouge soon landed and walked beside Shadow, the hallway was becoming too small for proper flying, and Breeze began to stir.

She twisted in Shadows arms and he held onto her tighter so he wouldn't drop her. She felt the increased pressure and slowly opened her eyes. The light in the hall blinded her a little and her eyes began to water. She then became aware that she was being carried and she struggled.

"Wh—where am I? What's happening?" she cried pathetically and then more vigorously tried to free herself. Her tail lashed in frustration, hitting Rouge who backed away a little.

"She's a fighter isn't she?" Rouge commented to Shadow as he tried to calm the fighting vixen.

"Breeze, calm down now. It's me, Shadow, Remember," Shadow said calmly into her ear.

She stopped struggling and looked up at him with fearful eyes. "Where are you taking me, Shadow?"

"Hey kid, remember me?" Rouge cut in before Shadow could answer.

Breeze looked at her with a start and recognition crossed her face. She nodded, "Rouge."

"That's right, honey. I was the only one who cared about you while you were here the first time. Anyways, you're going to see Eggman," the bat boasted.

"Eggman! Oh, I don't want to see him," the little vixen trembled.

"He wants to see you, but don't worry, nothing will happen," Shadow assured her.

"I'm not so sure…" Breeze was saying, but it was already too late. They had approached Dr. Eggman's control room and the double doors slid open to allow them to enter. Breeze tensed up in Shadow's arms as they entered and she looked around to see if she could spot the evil doctor before he saw her. No such luck.

"Good afternoon, Breeze. I trust your stay was to your enjoyment," the evil Dr. Eggman's voice said coming from a swivel chair facing a control panel of switches. Two robots sat at desks nearby typing away and grumbling at each other from time to time.

Breeze didn't say anything in return to the doctor. Of course her stay had been anything but enjoyable, but she didn't feel like back talking a man of so much power. Dr. Eggman turned in his chair and smiled when he saw her startled face. He was huge! His stomach was big enough to be another person and he was very tall, even sitting down. He had no hair on his head and a very long mustache below hid prominent nose. Covering he eyes were a pair of darkly tinted glasses and she wondered what his eyes were like behind them.

"Shadow, why don't you bring her closer to me so we can have a decent chat," Eggman said and Shadow complied as Breeze tried to shrink as far away from the big man as she could while Shadow carried her.

"Now put her down and back away a little," the doctor commanded again and Shadow set her down carefully and stepped back a step or two.

Breeze held her arms and tried to look small as the doctor then examined her. He put his hand under his chin and grunted, "You don't look like much, but apparently size isn't everything now is it?"

"Are you talking about how well I can shoot an arrow, sir?" Breeze asked. She couldn't help herself this time, she was too curious as to why he wanted her so bad.

"Well, that's an added bonus…you don't even know what you're capable of do you? Well good, I'd like to keep it that way so if you do get back into the wrong hands you can't be used against me," he mused.

Breeze looked at him in confusion. What was he talking about? She couldn't do anything else special?

"You'll help us find what we're looking for either way. You really don't have much choice in the matter," the doctor continued and then he reached out with his mammoth hand as if to grab her. She leaped back in fright and bumped into Shadow who she hid her face in to escape Eggman's grasp.

"Please take me away, Shadow. I want to go home. Please stay with me," she whimpered to him in fright.

"Hmpf," Eggman grunted. "Shadow, bring her back over here."

But Shadow's heart had been touched again by the little vixen's pleas and he put an arm around her and turned her away from Eggman. "Let me talk to her and get her to do what you want. You frighten her," he said to the fuming man.

"What do you care? She's mine and I'll have her do as I want."

"He cares because he's made another little pet out of this one. You know, like Maria and Molly," Rouge answered for Shadow casually and sashayed over to Eggman's seat. "I think he's right though. Let Shadow worry about the little girl and all you have to do is reap the rewards."

"Well…I guess that way I wouldn't have to put up with the little brat. Alright, Shadow, she's all yours. She seems to like you enough anyhow," the doctor said, giving in. Shadow nodded his head at Rouge in gratitude and she gave him the "don't mention it" look.

"Take her somewhere out of my sight until I need her again and try to keep an eye on her this time," Eggman said, waving them off with a hand gesture.

"Don't worry, Breeze. I won't let anything hurt you. I won't leave you, just like I promised," Shadow said calmly again while leading the already weeping vixen towards the door. He picked her up again and was about to leave when there was a massive explosion sound from somewhere outside and the whole fortress shook.

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**There's two more chapters! Thanks for the feedback, it really keeps me going! See 'ya next time!**


	15. Chapter 15: Rescue Mission

**Chapter 15:** Rescue Mission

Eggman looked up with a start and asked, "What was that?"

The fortress shook again and the sounds of automated weapons began resounding throughout the halls. "Bar the control room! Some fool is daring to attack my fortress!" Eggman commanded and his robots, with a yes sir, activated the heavy iron doors which came smashing down with a bang, locking them inside.

"Sonic," Shadow said under his breath with vehemence and Breeze perked up, her tail swishing rapidly.

Pretty soon they heard a bang on the iron door and Eggman chuckled. "He'll not be getting through that now will he!"

The banging on the door repeated a few times, stopped, and then started again with more force and actually denting the door inward. Eggman looked smug despite this, confident that there was no way through the stronghold. Breeze, who had been flinching at every bang in Shadow's arms, but becoming more and more excited and joyful that Sonic had come to save her just as she hoped he would, suddenly shouted out to her rescuer on the other side.

"Sonic! You came! I'm in here!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, loud and clear until Shadow put a hand over her mouth. She struggled against his hand, but he was too strong for her so she resorted to trying to wiggle free of his arms.

As if in response to her shout, the banging stopped abruptly and someone said forcefully but muffled through the thick door, "Get out of the way! I'm blasting it down!" There was the sound of a charging weapon and Eggman's face went dark just before a powerful blast of energy shot at the door and shattered the iron, sending pieces of it shooting everywhere around the control room. The room was in shambles with smoke, pieces of the door, and broken computer parts scattered all over and after a few seconds a bright blue blur shot through the smoke towards Eggman followed by a red mass of muscle and at last the shiny fierce metal of a large machine. Eggman yelled and fell backwards as Sonic plowed him down and Knuckles attacked the two frightened robots who were trying desperately to protect themselves against his rock hard fists. Breeze struggled with all her might and managed to throw herself from Shadow's arms. She rolled onto the floor with a thud, tumbling in all the debris.

"Sonic!" she yelled again when she noticed Shadow was in hot pursuit after her, but Sonic was busy and Shadow was closing in fast.

"Tails!" Sonic shouted as he pushed off of Eggman and tried to run towards Breeze while more of Eggman's robots came rushing in the room to intercept him. "Help Breeze! I can't get to her!"

Then Breeze noticed the X Tornado that had blasted the door open move into action. The giant machine moved and tried to block off Shadow, but he was to fast and dodged it. The cockpit opened and Breeze heard Tails shout at Chris to take the controls. _Tails! He had come to rescue her too! Did that mean he forgave her?!_ Breeze thought as she picked herself up again and began to run towards the X Tornado while Shadow dodged the big machine this way and that, slowing down because of the maneuvers he was forced to accomplish to avoid the crushing metal. Breeze kept running forward, but she tripped over a piece of protruding wire and crashed to the floor, knocking herself blurry.

"Breeze!" she heard him call her name and she lifted her head dizzily. She saw him coming towards her, his tails spinning faster and faster to lift himself off the ground. His blue eyes were frantic as he tried to reach her and his feet kept running towards her hoping he would get there in time, hoping she would be okay. But the room was big and Shadow was faster.

Shadow shot past the clumsy X Tornado and reached Breeze in less than a second. He picked her up again and smiled as he saw Sonic's face flash with realization that there was no way to stop the black hedgehog now. Tails kept rushing towards her, but Shadow didn't pay attention to the little orange fox whose movements were like a snail compared to his.

"Tails!" Breeze cried out in panic, struggling against Shadow again.

The dark hedgehog grasped a chaos emerald, took a firm hold on Breeze, and…

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

Both Breeze and Shadow disappeared from the room in the bright flash of the emerald's power.

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**Sorry this chapter was a little short, but it had to be to leave some suspense! Find out what happened to Breeze and Shadow next!**


	16. Chapter 16: Have We Met?

**Chapter 16: **Have We Met?

Breeze landed heavily on the ground and lay there, not bothering to get up. Her whole body felt as if it had been stretched and smashed and then stretched again, which traveling through time and space does to you. She breathed in deeply, choked, and then warily lifted her head only to be enveloped by vertigo and drop down again. She heard someone next to her, Shadow she presumed, and she closed her eyes tight, trying to squeeze the tears away. They had been so close to rescuing her, so close to bringing her home. Now she was gone again and had no idea where the black hedgehog had taken her. The tears finally escaped and she wept yet again.

"Tails…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you…" she sobbed into the dirt.

"Tails? Hey, we know that guy! Yeah, the two tailed fox that we tried to hook up with the plant girl."

Breeze jerked her head up at the voices and jumped back with a yell. "Who are you!? Where's Shadow?" she asked wildly of the three very unusual persons standing over her. One was a very large crocodile with a chain and headphones decorating his head. He had the air of a "know it all". The second was an annoying little bee with a flight helmet on, hovering at the level of the crocodile's face. He looked very young, even younger than her. The last was a purple chameleon, but he didn't look that interested in her. In fact, he looked like he was asleep.

The green crocodile looked at her weird and then it dawned on him what she meant. "Oh, you mean that black guy with the spiky hair. He's inside. Looks as though he hit his head on something when you guys came crashing down here in our front yard. How did you do that anyways?"

"I don't know…he did it…after he kidnapped me," Breeze said slowly. They seemed nice enough, maybe they could help her.

"Kidnapped!" the little bee gasped. "You were kidnapped, oh how terrible!"

"Well it's our job to get you back where you came from. It's what we do! Chaotix detective agency at your service, specializing in kidnapping," the crocodile added, pushing the buzzing bee out of the way. The bee tumbled and crashed into the sleeping chameleon who looked up slowly and pushed the bee off.

"Vector, aren't you forgetting our current mission?" the chameleon said in a steady voice.

"Oh, yeah…of course I'm not forgetting. You know I'm the brains around here, Espio."

The bee looked at Breeze and a light seemed to turn on in his brain. "Vector! Doesn't she—"

"Shut up, Charmy! I'm talking here," Vector, the green crocodile snapped.

"But—"

"I said shut up! You don't know anything! Now what was the name of that blue vixen we where supposed to be finding for Vanilla? She was kidnapped too."

"Vector, that's—" Charmy tried to say again but was grabbed by the throat this time and shook.

"What part of "shut up" do you not get?"

"That's Breeze," Charmy squeezed out.

"Hi, I'm Breeze. I know Vanilla," Breeze said to him and he looked at her and smiled.

"Hey guys! Don't you think this looks a lot like Breeze? The one Vanilla wanted us to find!" Vector announced and scooped up the confused vixen. Espio sighed and Charmy whined and turned his back on the big crocodile.

"That's what I've been trying to tell him," he mumbled.

Breeze laughed out of no where. The funny detectives had already brightened her day and chased away the sadness. Plus they were on a mission to take her home!

"What's so funny?" Vector asked suspiciously and brought Breeze, whom he still held, to eye level.

"Nothing, I'm just so happy that you guys found me and are going to take me home!"

"Well we'll take you home as soon as we find that other blue vixen," Vector said.

"Vector, she _is_ the blue vixen we were looking for," Espio said patiently. Apparently this sort of thing happened a lot.

Vector stared for a second and then said, "Oh…I knew that of course I was just…testing your attention span."

"What an idiot," Charmy said under his breath.

Breeze giggled again. She had heard of course due to her keen fox ears and thought the whole situation very amusing. She then suddenly remembered Shadow and another problem arose.

"Um, guys, where exactly is Shadow? I'd like to see him," she asked.

"Oh he's in there," Vector pointed towards the ramshackle building that served as the headquarters for the agency.

"Why do you want to see him? He kidnapped you didn't he?" Charmy asked turning back around.

"Well, I need to figure out what to do about him. He's just going to follow us and try to steal me back."

"Oh I don't know about that one. He's pretty busted up and unresponsive," Vector said. "He crashed into that tree when you guys landed. We saw the whole thing. You didn't get hurt because he twisted around so he would take all the damage. Probably would have killed you if he hadn't. You guys came in pretty fast."

"Have you taken care of him or put some bandages on him or something?" Breeze asked worried.

"Uh…no, were we supposed to? I figured his kind would just like heal or something," Vector shrugged.

Breeze scrambled down from the crocodile's grasp and ran towards the house yelling back at them, "Get me some water and towels and bandages right away!"

She entered the house while the three detectives scrambled about for what she needed and knelt down beside Shadow. He was lying on a bed and he moaned and shifted in a fitful sleep. He had a bad cut on his forehead that looked as if it had been seeping blood for awhile and he looked pale despite his dark coloring. He had some bad bruises all over his body, but other than that he looked amazingly well for having just smashed into a thick tree at top speeds.

"They still should've cleaned you up a bit, but I'll do my best," she murmured to him. She picked up the rag that Charmy had deposited in front of her and dipped it in the water contributed by Espio. Vector soon brought the bandages and then all three of them circled around to watch. She noticed and smiled to then saying, "That's a good idea so that maybe you'll know what to do if someone else lands in your front yard."

She washed the gash out on his head and took a bandage to wrap around it and slow the bleeding. He moaned again and his eyes fluttered open a little, focusing on her.

"Hey, Shadow. How're you doing?" Breeze said softly.

"I feel bad. Where are we?" He said, and then saw the Chaotix and grunted. "Never mind, I know who those sorry excuses for detectives are."

"Now wait just a minute!" Vector was saying but Breeze shushed him.

"It's okay. That's just the way Shadow is. Don't take it personally."

"Hmpf. Sure it is," Charmy said sarcastically.

Shadow tried to raise himself up but Breeze pushed him back down and his brow furrowed at her. "I'm fine. I can get up."

"No you can't. The Chaotix said you crashed into a tree and saved my life by taking the full force of it. You can't expect me to believe that you're fine. Oh and thanks by the way," Breeze said to him.

"Sure no problem, but you know, I said I'd never let anything hurt you," Shadow said back to her in his dark voice. He put a hand on hers and she blushed a little.

The Chaotix behind her suddenly felt a little uncomfortable with what was going on and decided, since the doctoring was over, they'd go call Vanilla and tell her that they had Breeze. "Just come get us when you're ready," Espio whispered to her and then disappeared, blending into his surroundings as chameleons do.

"Does that mean you're leaving?" asked the observant Shadow. "I have to come too. I promised you that as well."

Breeze nodded. "I want to go home, Shadow. I appreciate everything that you've done…but I want to see Sonic again…and Tails."

Shadow looked thoughtful and said, "Then I'll come with you."

"What!?"

"I promised I'd never leave you so I'm coming with you when you go home."

"But Eggman…"

"I don't really work for him. I just help him out. You changed my mind about taking you back to him. He's too cruel for you. So, I'll take you home."

Breeze smiled and a tear escaped, but this time one of happiness. "Thank you, Shadow," she said and then hugged tight while he tried to keep from crying out when she squeezed his bruises too hard. She then apologized for hurting him, kissed him sweetly on the head, and ran off to go tell the Chaotix that she was ready and that Shadow was coming with them. Shadow lay on the bed and smiled to himself, thinking about the small but sincere kiss Breeze had put on his head.

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**Yay! 16 chapters! But I'm not done yet! Thanks so much to my awesome reviewers! You guys rock! Next up, how is the Sonic team dealing with their failed mission...**


	17. Chapter 17: Knuckles' Thoughts

**Chapter 17:** Knuckles' Thoughts

Knuckles sat on a rock right outside the Egg fortress which still smoked in the background. He looked at Sonic, who stood next to the beach line watching the waves go in and out and contemplating what had gone wrong with the rescue attempt. Eggman's fort was on the coast, though no one knew why the doctor had always picked coastal areas to set up a base. Maybe it was because of Sonic's strong aversion to water, who knew. The red echidna then looked to the left at Chris who stood next to the X Tornado with Amy, just waiting for Sonic to be done with his musing. Knuckles could see that Amy was getting impatient. They wouldn't be here much longer. Tails was on of the more interesting to watch because he paced up and down the beach, his tails twitching and spinning now again in agitation, his head down and ears drooping as if blaming himself for Breeze getting spirited away again. _Like he could have done anything else about it_, Knuckles thought. Tails finally plopped down in the sand and sat with his head on his knees, trembling in the cool sea air.

The echidna sighed and then looked behind him, and saw Rouge, the jewel thief, approaching him. He hoped she would just walk on by, but by the looks of her she appeared to want to get on his nerves again. He wondered why she always picked the worse times to do it too. Here he was, dejected and ashamed for not being able to save his little vixen friend and she wanted to come make something of it. He decided that he wasn't even going to speak to her. Just ignore her and everything would be all right.

"Hey, Knucklehead," she said from behind him.

"Stop calling me that!" he yelled and whirled around to face her, any previous vows now forgotten when he heard that sassy voice. Boy, she knew just the right buttons to push!

"What's wrong with a little nickname, hu? I'll let you call me "beautiful" if it would make you feel better?" she said and sat down on the rock next to him, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

He blushed and then fumed inside. No he would _not_ call her beautiful…ever. Even if she was, which she certainly didn't need to know from him.

"I see you lost foxy loxy…um but I'm real sorry about that," she said, actually being sincere about the last statement.

Knuckles looked at her incredulously and she smiled. "I could tell you liked her by the way you fought for her back in the control room, but something tells me you never told her that now did you? You know, you're just like that little two tailed fox over there. You can't tell a girl you love her, except Tails can't do it because he's embarrassed and you can't do it because you think it'll hurt your pride."

He frowned at her. "You may be right; except for one thing…I don't have a girl that I would want to say that too!" he shouted in defiance and scooted away.

Rouge smiled again and scooted closer to him. "Oh, I think you do. You just don't want to admit it," she said and put a hand on his knee leaning closer to him.

He looked at her eyes and couldn't help noticing that they really were the most beautiful shade of aquamarine he'd ever seen. Of course he couldn't stop his eyes from wandering to her next most attractive feature, her voluptuous chest, and once there it was very hard to move them anywhere else.

Rouge noticed when he hadn't backed away that she had his attention and whispered into his ear, "You can look all you want, Knucky, just don't try anything. I don't think our relationship has reached that level yet."

Knuckles jumped back when he realized she had noticed his staring and she laughed as he landed in the sand, blushing like crazy. He put on his fiercest scowl, but nothing could deter her and he was finally rescued, if though embarrassed, by Sonic calling out to him.

"Hey, Knuckles! Quit flirting with Rouge and get over here. It's time to go!"

Knuckles hastily ran up to Sonic as Rouge took flight, still smiling and chuckling to herself. "See 'ya around, Knucklehead," she said to herself and laughed some more.

Tails was feeling low, really low. He never used to get jealous whenever he'd watch Sonic and Amy or Knuckles and Rouge, but now he was jealous and angry at them for not recognizing that they had it good where he had nothing but bad luck. He envied Cream in her youthful ignorance to the terrible but wonderful feeling that could rip you apart or make you feel like you were floating in the clouds.

After Sonic had been staring at the ocean a while and had called Knuckles, everyone had made their way back over to the X Tornado and were standing around it, waiting to see what Sonic had to say. Tails now stood dejectedly nearby next to Chris, still thinking over what had happened. Poor Breeze had been right there in front of him and he hadn't been able to reach her in time. She had cried out his name and he couldn't save her…"

"Alright, everyone! This is what's happening," Sonic began and Tails had to snap back to attention to listen. "I'm going to go on a run and try to locate her again. Tails, you take everyone home and then you can come join me if you feel up to it."

"Why can't we come too, Sonic?" Amy protested and grabbed his arm.

"Because somebody needs to tell Vanilla and Cream what the situation is. Then maybe if Tails is nice enough he'll let you tag along," Sonic replied and gave Tails a wink. Tails smiled, wondering how anyone could be jovial at a moment like this. He supposed if anyone could it would be Sonic.

Amy gave in and she, Tails, Knuckles, and Chris all piled in the X Tornado while Sonic sped off on the opposite direction.

"I honestly don't see how he can see anything going that fast," Amy pouted as Tails turned the ship on and flew into the sky.

They reached Vanilla's house to be greeted by Cream and Cheese who came hoping for Breeze, but when they did not see her, begging for news. They went in the house and told the two rabbits and chao the story of how Shadow and Breeze got away. Amy did the talking while Knuckles chilled on a couch and Tails sat wringing his hands, anxious to be out looking for the vixen. Chris walked over and sat down next to Tails.

"I'm sorry I couldn't hold Shadow off long enough, Tails. Maybe if I had moved a little faster you might have been able to reach Breeze in time," Chris apologized.

"It's not your fault, Chris. If anyone's to blame it's me. I started this whole thing when I freaked out over Cosmo."

Chris smiled and patted Tails on the back. "You're real anxious to get out there, hu?"

"Yeah, but I'm waiting on Amy. If she wants to come she should be able to," Tails said. "Chris, have…" he paused, unsure if he should keep going.

"What, Tails? You can ask me anything."

"Well, almost everyone I know has had experience with like a boyfriend or girlfriend except Cream, so I was wondering if you had like a girl you liked back home," Tails said abashedly.

"Um, yeah. Her name is Helen. Since I'm really nineteen back there the two of us are pretty serious. I just wish I could bring her here sometimes. She would love it," Chris laughed nervously. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it seems like I'm the only one in the world with problems. I mean, nothing ever works out smoothly for me. Cosmo's gone, and I'm sure Breeze still doesn't like me after what I said. I just don't know what to do."

"Well, Cosmo will always be with you, Tails, as long as you remember her. As for Breeze, you'll just have to say you're sorry and hope she forgives you, which I'm sure she will. Then you'll be back on top."

Tails smiled up at Chris. "Thanks, Chris. That's kind of what Sonic said but I like hearing advice from you, too. I just hope we can get Breeze back so I can tell her. That's what I was about to do before she got captured. It's been plaguing my thoughts ever since."

"Don't worry, we'll get her back!" Chris said confidently. Amy looked over at him and Tails sitting on the couch.

"Are you two waiting for me?" she asked.

"Yeah, Amy. 'You almost done?" Tails asked excitedly, now more than ever ready to go look for Breeze again. This time he wouldn't leave without her safe and sound in his lap again just like when they first met.

"Aw, how sweet of you guys! It's ok, though, I'm going to stay here and help Vanilla and Cream look around. I think we might be able to find her easier on the ground than in the sky. Shadow can't fly you know," she said and was about to tell them to leave without her when she noticed Tails was already running out of the room to the X Tornado with Chris close on his heels. Amy shrugged and turned back to Cream and Vanilla while the X Tornado's powerful engine was thrown into gear outside.

"Hmphf," Knuckles said and stood up, walking out of the house. He had something he wanted to give to Breeze when they got her back. He just had to find it first.

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**Yay, Knuckles got a chapter! I guess we'll see what he gives to Breeze later, next up is more Shadow and Breeze!**


	18. Chapter 18: Going Home

**Chapter 18:** Going Home

Breeze watched anxiously as Vector carefully picked up the wounded Shadow and placed him down on the ground. He slowly let go to see if the hedgehog could stand on his own. Shadow wobbled a little and then stood up straight and smiled at Breeze who had been hovering nearby.

"I can stand at least, I may need something to lean on though when I start walking," the hedgehog observed.

"I'd be glad to assist you," Breeze smiled at him and placed her arm through his.

Vector let out a sigh of relief. "Good, because we don't have any crutches and I'd hate to take the time to make one. It's getting dark outside and we need to go."

"Shouldn't you call Vanilla and tell her we're on our way," Espio asked from a dark corner.

"I was just about to suggest that myself," Vector replied and went to get the phone. While he called the number, Charmy buzzed over and hovered right in front of Shadow's face.

"You're not as scary as I've heard you are," he said smugly.

"That's because you haven't seen me when I get angry and believe me, I get angry very quickly," Shadow said darkly and Charmy immediately buzzed away with an exclamation of fright.

Vector then came back from his phone call to Vanilla and said that the rabbit was completely thrilled to hear the news. "She's said she was going to call Tails and tell him so he could tell Sonic. I love making that little rabbit happy!"

"That's 'cuz you have a crush on her," Charmy remarked and Espio made a whistling noise.

"I do not!" Vector yelled at them, blushing a deep crimson.

"Who's Cream's daddy now," Charmy chanted and buzzed around the room while Espio laughed along with Breeze, and Shadow smiled next to her.

Vector's features scrunched up and he stomped out of the room yelling, "Come on let's go." And then mumbling, "Charmy I'm gonna kill you…you just better watch your back, kid."

Espio, with one last chuckle, followed him out the door, ninja style, and Charmy buzzed behind him. Breeze supported Shadow by placing his arm around her shoulders and they too followed the unlikely trio into the night, guided by the lights Vector, Espio, and Charmy held. Breeze's heart swelled with joy as she thought about seeing all of her friends again. She had never felt more excited in her life and, much to Shadow's despair, walked along with a bounce in her step, jarring him with every footfall.

About halfway there Breeze spotted a flash of bright blue light headed their way and she knew in her heart it was Sonic. She whooped for joy and Shadow looked at her with question.

"It's Sonic, Shadow! He's come to meet us!" she exclaimed and pointed in the direction of the blue blur. A few seconds later the sound of loud engines reached her ears and her heart nearly leapt out of her chest. The X Tornado! The three detectives stopped when they saw the shiny metal plane and then soon spotted Sonic racing towards them. Breeze felt Shadow tense on her shoulders and remembered that these two were enemies and that Shadow was weak at the moment.

Sonic reached them first and slowed to a stop with a skidding halt. Breeze ran forward and embraced him, trusting that Shadow could stand on his own.

"Sonic! Sonic, my hero! You came to save me, twice! Thank you so much, I love you!" she cried as she smashed herself into his chest in the fiercest hug she could give. He hugged her back and spun her around laughing with joy the whole time.

"I love you too, Breeze," he said out loud and hugged her again while tears of happiness streamed down her face. He kissed her on the forehead and held her a way a moment so he could look at her.

"I'm just so glad I got you back. So is everyone else. You should have heard Tails when he was yelling like crazy from the X Tornado telling me that the Chaotix had found you," Sonic said and then hugged her again. He looked to the three detectives and ran over to shake each of their hands and invite them to dinner, telling them how grateful he was. The X Tornado landed in the background and the cockpit opened up.

"Oh, it was nothing. The two of them found us actually," Vector said. "They landed right in our front yard; the black hedgehog was really busted up."

Sonic then turned to Shadow, who had been watching the whole scene with disgust, and his joyful expression soon turned hard as stone. Shadow stood up straight despite his bruises and bandaged head, ready to take Sonic as best he could, but Breeze saw what was happening and flung herself between the two hedgehogs as quick as she could. She backed up close to Shadow, protecting him.

"Stop, Sonic. Shadow was helping me to get back home. He only kidnapped me in the first place because Eggman told him to. He knows me now and doesn't want to take me back. He's my friend and he saved my life," Breeze explained, hoping that her hero wouldn't turn on her.

Sonic stopped and nodded with a sigh when he realized the little vixen was not going to have no for an answer. "I believe you, Breeze, and if he's your friend and promises not to hurt you then it's ok with me."

Breeze smiled and hugged Shadow then ran to Sonic and hugged him again. "Thank you," she said.

They then both looked up at the sound of engines powering up and a blast in the sky. The X Tornado had launched and was flying quickly away in the direction of Tails' workshop. Sonic looked back at where it had landed, confused and saw Chris standing wide eyed at the sky.

"Hey, Chris, what's going on? Where's Tails?" Sonic yelled at him.

"I don't know. When we landed he was so excited and then I got out and assumed he would follow when he was ready, but he just took off," Chris yelled back and began jogging to join them. He reached the group and Breeze gave him a giant hug too, but Sonic was worried about Tails.

"We needed that plane to help transport people back. Pardon me for saying this, Shadow, but you don't look so good and I guess you're coming back with us since you won't leave Breeze's side," Sonic said to the black hedgehog.

"I don't feel so good either, but I think I can make it back," Shadow said bravely.

"Chris, help them get to the house. I'll go look for Tails and see what his problem is," Sonic said and as soon as he had arrived, he was gone.

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**I'm going to be kind of busy this weekend so I'll try my best to update! So what's Tails' problem? We'll soon find out! Please review with any comments or suggestions! Love you all!**


	19. Chapter 19: The Reunion and the Gift

Sorry I haven't updated in forever! Every time I tried to log into FanFiction it said there was a technical glitch. Hopefully it won't keep doing that! Here's the next chapters and feel free to review! Thanks to all!

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**Chapter 19: **The Reunion and the Gift

They reached the house just before midnight. Chris was carrying Shadow because the hedgehog's strength had given out a few hours before. Breeze walked beside them, her hand on Chris' arm. On reaching the front door Cream and Cheese burst out laughing and hugging Breeze like they hadn't seen her in a thousand years. The little chao fluttered about and dived into Breeze's arms giving her a chao kiss on the cheek. Amy came out too and gushed over how scary it must have been for Breeze and how glad she was that the Chaotix had found her.

"You should have seen me when I ran out to tell Sonic you were missing! I was so upset and I automatically knew it was Shadow…oh!" Amy was saying and then came up short when she noticed Shadow. "What's he doing here?!"

"Just let me explain and you'll understand. I've already seen Sonic and he said it was ok that I brought Shadow home. He's hurt though, could we go inside?" Breeze said.

"Sure, if it was ok with Sonic then its ok with me I guess. I made something really good to eat with Vanilla's help so let's all go in so I can hear this story," Amy said and opened the door wide so Chris could bring Shadow into the house. The Chaotix and Breeze followed along with Cream and Cheese who couldn't stop casting sideways glances at the injured hedgehog.

Of course, just when Breeze thought she would be free of welcoming hugs and kisses, Vanilla came running from the kitchen and hugged her too while rabbit tears dripped onto the vixen's dirty blue fur.

"Oh, Breeze, can you forgive me? I shouldn't have left you alone for one minute," Vanilla said to her.

"Of course I can, Vanilla. After all, I wouldn't have met all these new friends if I hadn't been kidnapped," Breeze said with a gesture around the room. Vanilla looked up and noticed all of the visitors.

"Oh, my! It's good we made some extra food." She then walked over to Vector and gave him a big hug and kiss on his crocodilian face. She shook his hands in gratitude. "Thank you so much! I owe you and your team for helping me with everything!"

Vector blushed. "Anytime, Vanilla. Anything to make you happy," he said. Vanilla then went and hugged Charmy and Espio, who blushed too.

"Well she gave me a kiss," Vector bragged to them in an undertone when Vanilla had turned away. Charmy stuck out his tongue and Espio just smiled and shook his head.

Vanilla turned to Chris, who still held Shadow, and directed him to put the hedgehog on the couch. The motherly rabbit then inspected him and sent Amy for some salve to put on his head. Breeze kneeled down beside the hedgehog as he turned his head in confusion, unsure as to where he was. He must have blacked out a few times on the way to the house. Breeze took his hand to comfort him.

"It's alright, Shadow. You're safe now and you're going to get better real fast," she told him.

Vanilla smiled at her. "That's right, Breeze. Now let's get you cleaned up so we can eat and hear your tale on how you came into such interesting company. Cream darling, could you take Breeze and wash her up?" Cream nodded and Breeze followed her out after reassuring Shadow she would be right back.

They ate in the living room with Shadow so he wouldn't have to move or be excluded from the story. He didn't say much, but ate all of the food Breeze gave him and then laid back on the couch and listened to Breeze tell her story, never taking his eyes off her where she sat next to him. Despite his unnerving stare, Breeze explained in detail how she came to be captured and how Shadow's sudden change of heart had led her back here with the Chaotix. After the story there was many nodding of heads and Vanilla hugged the vixen close again.

"Well, dear, Shadow is welcomed to stay too. I know he doesn't really have a home to live in so I don't mind until we find him one," she said and nodded towards Shadow, apparently impressed that the black hedgehog had a heart.

Shadow was surprised at all the hospitality he was receiving. There was no anger or harsh words like he was used to. Was this how it felt to live in Sonic's world? No wonder Breeze had wanted to come back. It was all so overwhelming, but he thought he might get used to it.

Just then the door opened and everyone was surprised to see Knuckles walk in. He had left Vanilla's home after Tails and Chris had gone looking for Breeze again on his own secret mission to get the vixen back. He hadn't known Breeze was safe until meeting Sonic who was on the run looking for Tails. Once learning Breeze was back, and warned about Shadow's presence, Knuckles took off towards the house, determined to prove Rouge wrong about being too prideful to tell Breeze he really didn't hate her.

He walked up to the couch where she sat with Shadow and Vanilla and crouched down in front of her, not saying a word to anyone else. No one else said a word either, waiting to see what he would do.

"Breeze, from the first time we saw each other we got off to a bad start. I'm sorry I've been such a hard head and I want you to know that you are not an annoying little fox, but a friend and valuable ally. I thought that maybe if you could forgive me we could start over as friends. I want to give you this to go along with the apology," he said calm and steady. He then took her hand and pulled out a beautiful glowing gem the size of her own fist and placed it in her palm. She stared at it in wonder as it reflected off of every wall in the house and shone with a bright blue fire; almost the same color as her fur. Everyone gasped, they knew what it was. Shadow jerked up in surprise.

"This is a chaos emerald. One of seven and within it there is a power second only to the Master Emerald itself. I give it to you as a gift," Knuckles explained. There was a loud thump outside in the yard but no one noticed.

"Oh, Knuckles, it's beautiful. But you didn't have to give this to me as an apology; all I needed to hear was your words. Thank you, though, and yes I forgive you and very much want to be your friend," Breeze said and hugged him like she did last time he spoke softly to her. This time he didn't push her off in embarrassment but hugged her back, smiling to himself at about how much of a suck up he really was.

"Oh, and thank you for helping to rescue me. I doubt the X Tornado would have been able to blast the door open if you hadn't been banging on it first," Breeze whispered to him and then broke the hug. He nodded back at her in response, swelling with pride, and walked out the door without a word to anyone else in the room, even to Shadow. Breeze smiled after her echidna friend and held the emerald close to her heart.

"Wow, Knuckles actually gave you one of his precious chaos emeralds! I wonder if Hell has frozen over?" Amy said incredulously and shook her head.

Everyone one else was pretty shocked as well and it was soon the general agreement that they all go to sleep. The house was small, but they made due. Amy slept with Cream upstairs in her room and the Chaotix slept on the couches and chairs downstairs in the living room. Chris took Breeze's room and Vanilla laid out a palette for Shadow to sleep on in her room while Breeze slept on the bed with the motherly rabbit. Shadow took to the arrangement just fine as long as he was near Breeze. Soon everyone in the house was asleep and Breeze sat up with Shadow for a while, listening to the stories of how he had helped Sonic back in Chris' world to stop a space station from destroying the planet Earth along time ago.


	20. Chapter 20: What Happened to Tails

**Chapter 20: **What Happened to Tails

Knuckles stood in the front yard of the house. He stared at the night sky and thought fondly of the smile on Breeze's face when he had given her the emerald. It was a very precious stone, but for some reason it felt better to give it away than to keep it for himself. It shouldn't cause her any problems since they hadn't found all seven of the emeralds yet. If that was the case, however, he was sure she'd give it back for safe keeping.

He heard something behind him and abruptly turned around, startled to find Rouge climbing out of the bushes next to Vanilla's house. He suddenly remembered the loud thump he had heard outside when giving Breeze the emerald and thought he had now found the source of the noise.

"What? So speechless that I would give the chaos emerald to Breeze that you fell out of the tree? What are you doing following me around anyways?" he said to her and raised an eyebrow.

"No," she said dusting herself off. "I'm surprised that you gave it to her when here all along you knew I liked gems of all kinds and didn't even think of giving it to me. I mean, you've known me longer than her and sure do have a lot more to apologize to me about than you do to her," she said angrily, still brushing leaves from her clothes.

Knuckles laughed and walked over to her. He reached up and picked a leaf off the top of her head that she had missed. "I can't think of a thing that I could apologize to you about and believe that you would take it seriously," he said.

She gave him a mean look and swatted his hand away. "You could have given it to me just as a gift," she said and turned her back on him in a pout.

"Why would I give you a gift?"

"Because I'm beautiful and charming and you want to impress me," Rouge said and cast a sideways glance at his face.

Knuckles smirked sarcastically, "Sure you are," and walked away back towards his home, Angel Island. He paused and turned back to the bat who now watched him.

"Wait, you didn't answer why you were following me. You're not trying to avoid the question are you?" he asked.

Rouge answered, "Oh, no reason. I just saw you with the emerald and was interested in what you were doing is all."

"So you've been following me for a while now?"

"I certainly have not! I just get curious when a gem is involved, not that you care," she said and flew off in a huff. Knuckles watched her go and then continued on home, wondering if he had been a little harsh on the bat. After all, she had feelings too.

Sonic arrived at Tails' workshop sometime in the dead of the night. He hadn't run immediately there because he had felt like stretching his legs for a while, but once he was there and had spotted the X Tornado, he started looking for the delinquent fox.

He found Tails vigorously working on something with a single lamp illuminating his working space. The fox was so engrossed in his thoughts and the movements of his hands that he didn't notice Sonic had walked up to him and now stood behind him with hands on his blue hedgehog hips. The fox kept on working and Sonic, who was finally tired of waiting, decided to speak up.

"So why'd you end up ditching us, Tails?"

Tails jumped and whipped around to see Sonic standing behind him in a very nonchalant manner. The two-tailed fox had hoped no one would follow him here, but then he realized that there was no way the inquisitive hedgehog was going to let him get away without an explanation.

"The X Tornado was malfunctioning and needed repairs," Tails lied and bent back over his work.

In a flash Sonic was in front of him again, leaning over the table close to Tails' face. "As likely as that may seem, I don't think you would leave to fix your ship without saying hello to Breeze. Besides, you don't look like you're working on the X Tornado."

Tails put his tool down on the table and dropped his head. "I didn't want to give Shadow a ride," he mumbled just loud enough for Sonic to hear.

"How come, buddy? You're usually the most forgiving of all of us," Sonic replied.

Tails braced himself with his hands on the table. "I can tell you anything, right Sonic? You wouldn't judge me?"

"Of course not, Tails. You're my best friend," Sonic said, concerned.

"Well, I don't like Shadow because he hurt Breeze and…Breeze doesn't seem to care. I saw them out of the X Tornado when Chris and I flew over. She protected him from you and then she hugged him. It's like she doesn't realize that he was the one who kidnapped her and I…I mean we were the ones that were trying to save her! She actually really likes him!" Tails slumped down and looked at his hands.

"That's because he did save her in the end. You just don't know the whole story. Shadow's just a really good friend of hers now, nothing to worry about."

"I still don't understand."

Sonic, now totally exasperated with the fox said, "Well, instead of running away like always why don't you stick around and see what Breeze has to say about it? You still haven't apologized to her and I thought you said that's what you were going to do as soon as we found her."

Tails sighed, "I know, I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Alright then, let's go."

"Tomorrow? I still need time to think about what I'm going to say," the fox pleaded.

Sonic sighed and nodded his head. "Ok, but while you're thinking about that you might as well think about how to apologize to everyone else for just leaving us there with a sick hedgehog in the middle of the night without explanation."

Tails nodded, looking thoroughly depressed, and Sonic patted him on the back. "That's more like it. I'll stay here if you want me too and we'll go over there tomorrow morning together."

Tails agreed with another nod of his head, looking somewhat better, and then smiled at Sonic. "If you weren't around to put me straight, Sonic, I don't know what I'd do. Thanks."

"No problem, Tails!" Sonic said with a thumbs up.

* * *

**20 Chapters! I'm excited! See you next time when we find out if Tails and Breeze finally make up.**


	21. Chapter 21: All I Need is You

**Chapter 21: **All I Need is You

The next morning Breeze woke up early with the sunrise. She still felt upset about the situation she was in with Tails. He hadn't even spoken to her since she was rescued and just took off in the X Tornado without a word once he had dropped off Chris. He must really hate her after all. That didn't deter her, however. She had come up with a plan that may help him to forgive her and she was anxious to put it in action. _I'd do anything to be friends with him again! _She thought, even if it did involve waking up Shadow.

"Hey, Shadow," she whispered into his ear and shook him a little. His eyes immediately shot open and he sat up, felt a spell of dizziness pass over him, and lay back down on the mat. It was quite surprising to Breeze that a person would wake up in such an abrupt manner, but then it _was_ Shadow she was waking up and he _was_ in a strange place. Of course he was probably jumpy.

He stared up at her from his lying position and waited for her to say something. He wasn't very talkative, but if she had woken him up then there must be a reason and he was ready to listen even if his head still felt woozy from yesterday's adventures.

"Sorry to wake you up so early, but I was wondering if you could do me a favor…when you're feeling better," she said in a quiet whisper so she wouldn't wake Vanilla who was sound asleep on the bed next to them.

"What's the favor?" Shadow said. His voice was a low whisper, but it sounded stronger than it was when he had just gotten hurt. He must be getting better.

"I need to get to the trash disposal center and it's a long way away, to far to walk, so I was wondering if you could do the chaos thing and take me there. I have the emerald Knuckles gave me if you want to use it."

Shadow stared at the blue vixen. She wanted to go to a trash center this early in the morning? "Why?" he asked.

"I have to find something for a friend. It's really important and would mean a lot to me if you would help," she said hopefully.

"I'll do it, when do you want to leave?" he said.

"Oh thank you, Shadow! Right away if we can but…you're still hurt."

Shadow smiled and put out a hand. "Give me your emerald and we can go right now."

She put the light blue emerald in his hand and he drew out the yellow one he had been keeping. Holding the two glowing gems in hand he mumbled, "I don't know why I didn't think of this before." He closed his eyes, still grasping the emeralds, and slowly allowed their power to seep into his being, giving him strength and agility once again. Breeze watched in amazement as he then stood up, looking good as new, and offered her his hand.

She took it exclaiming, "How did you do that?"

"I drew on the power of the chaos emeralds. Now hold on, this should be a lot smoother than last time."

There was a flash of bright light and the bedroom with the sleeping rabbit disappeared to reveal an open area full of garbage and dirt. There was a machine on one side of the field slowly incinerating the trash every once in a while. They were at the trash disposal center.

The morning was still young as the small blue vixen and her black hedgehog friend stood near a pile of trash, just looking around. Breeze was still getting over the sudden jump to a new place and finally snapped out of her daze when she heard Shadow's low voice.

"Will you tell me what we're looking for?"

"Um…I'll know when I find it," she said. "I've always been pretty good at finding things. Once my little brother lost his favorite toy at the beach and everyone was looking for it. They had been searching for hours and then I showed up and just stumbled upon it in like five minutes."

"Hmmm," Shadow said and followed her as she started walking deeper into the trash piles, looking around and holding her nose against the smell. He silently observed her, and pulled her out of trash piles when she got stuck.

Breeze kept searching and soon ten minutes had already flown by. The garbage field was just so big and what she was looking for was so small. She stopped and stood still for a while concentrating on her surroundings. She felt Shadow's presence behind her and closed her eyes. All of the sudden she moved towards a particular pile of trash. Something about it seemed to draw her to it. She didn't know what, but for some reason she felt compelled to look in it. She surveyed the pile and then moved an old tire out of the way to reveal a black trash bag exactly like the one she had used to clean up the mess she had made in Tails' workshop. She opened it up excitedly and quickly withdrew a small green plant, roots and all, into the sunlight and held it up.

"I found it! Look, Shadow, it's still barely alive! Oh, quick, let's go get a pot and some dirt," Breeze said excitedly and spun around in a circle holding the plant close. Shadow smiled knowingly and when she stopped her joyful spinning he said, "So that's what you were looking for, a plant?"

"Yes! This is…Cosmo apparently, whoever that really is I don't know, but I have to give it back to Tails and maybe he won't be so mad at me anymore."

"I knew a Cosmo, I tried to kill her."

Breeze looked at him and held the plant closer. You wouldn't kill this Cosmo would you?" she said worried.

"Not if you don't want me too. But if you give that thing back to Tails, he'll forgive you, but your problems will start over again."

"What do you mean?" Breeze asked.

"Tails needs to let go of that plant, not hold onto it forever."

Breeze sighed. "Well, I still want to give it back to him if it means he'll like me again. I don't care what else happens, and besides, I went through all the trouble to find it so I can't just leave it here to die."

Shadow shrugged and offered her his hand again. She took it and they jumped, using chaos control, in front of a greenhouse. Breeze smiled in gratitude at Shadow and immediately dashed in to collect a pot and some dirt. She carefully planted the plant into the soil and gave it a little water after which it seemed to perk up.

"You mean so much to Tails; I'd hate to see you thrown away. Besides, you're kind of a pretty little plant," she whispered to it. She then got a can of green paint and wrote "Cosmo" on the side of the pot with it. As she leaned back to survey her work, Shadow stooped over to look as well.

"Tails really means a lot to you, doesn't he," Shadow said.

"Yes, he does, and I want him to know that. I want to tell him I'm sorry," Breeze said in a low voice. She looked up at Shadow with eyes close to tears. "Will you take me to his workshop?"

"Of course," he said and in the blink of an eye they were gone in another flash.

Shadow watched from outside as Breeze made her way into the workshop to drop off the plant. He didn't want to go in with her just in case Tails was there. Shadow knew that he was the reason Tails had left in such a hurry last night and he didn't want to make things worse for the vixen. As he stood staring at the entrance with his usual frown, he noticed Sonic walking towards him from around the backside of the workshop.

"Hey, Shadow. Whatcha' doing here?" the blue hedgehog said.

"Waiting for Breeze. Have a problem with that?"

"Nope," Sonic said and stood next to the black hedgehog. "I'm just enjoying the morning. I'm surprised to see 'ya up so early and not a scratch on you. I suppose it's due to a chaos emerald right?"

Shadow didn't answer.

"So what's Breeze doing here?" Sonic tried.

"Giving Tails a plant she found at the trash disposal center."

"What? No way! She found it?" Sonic asked amazed. "Tails was looking all over that place for hours and didn't even come close."

"Yes, she's good at finding things."

"Really…see 'ya!" Sonic said and dashed off again behind the shop.

Shadow stared after him, wondering if he'd ever figure it out.

Breeze crept quietly in the workshop. She hoped to just put the plant down on its ledge and leave a small note. She didn't really think she was up to actually confronting Tails at the moment. She walked over to the shelf, and in her nervousness and anxiousness to just drop the plant off and get out before anyone saw, her tail flipped in agitation and knocked over a standing metal pipe with a loud clang. Breeze froze, and when no one showed after a few seconds she decided it must be safe and walked on over to the shelf. She lifted the plant to place it on the ledge…

"Breeze…what are you doing here?"

Breeze's head slowly turned to see Tails staring at her. She was holding the pot outstretched towards the shelf and quickly drew it back down in front of her. She didn't know what to say. A few minutes passed by as both foxes stared at each other in silence.

Tails took an uncertain step forward, stopped and hesitated, then walked across the room until he was a few feet from her. He didn't notice what she had in her hands; he was only trying to figure out how he should start explaining himself.

"I didn't disturb you or anything with that crash did I? I'll just put that pipe back up for you if you want," Breeze finally said in a quiet voice, looking down.

"Don't worry about it…Breeze, I—"

"I brought this for you," she cut in swiftly and held the pot out to him. He finally noticed it and a look of surprise and shock crossed his features.

"I knew you hated me for breaking it and throwing it away so I went to the trash disposal place and found it. I only want to be friends again. I'm very sorry. Here, take it," she said in tears and pushed the plant into his hands.

Tails held Cosmo and looked at the small green plant he had known so well. It was the same one to the very detail. How had she found it? Why would she go through all that trouble just for him? She must care about him and about how he felt. All of the sudden Tails began to feel really bad about how he had been acting. He had been so selfish to have taken so long to say he was sorry.

"It's the exact same one, I promise," Breeze said as Tails' guilty thoughts were running through his head. "Will you forgive me, Tails? I don't hate you."

Tails looked up when she asked for his forgiveness and placed the plant on the floor to the side. He stepped closer to her and took her hands looking into her watery blue eyes.

"Breeze, you don't need to ask for forgiveness from me. It's all my fault and _I'm_ sorry. You never did anything but try to help and be good while all I could do was freak out and cry. You are an amazing friend and I should have told you about Cosmo and everything from the start. I'm sorry I was jealous and that I was never there to help you when you needed me most. I'm sorry for yelling at you and leaving you; and I'm sorry right now for not telling you this earlier and for not being as excited about your gift as I should be because I don't really care if I don't have Cosmo anymore. All I need is you," Tails said from the bottom of his heart and tears ran down his face as Breeze crossed the few inches that divided them and enveloped the orange-yellow fox in a fierce embrace.

They held each other for a while and then Breeze finally sobbed into his shoulder, "Thank you, Tails. That's all I needed to hear."

"Thank you for forgiving me," Tails replied just as heartfelt.

"I'd do it again and again for a thousand years no matter what you do."

"Will you stay here with me for awhile? I'd like to tell you about Cosmo," Tails said to her.

"Of course," she said drawing back so she could look at him. "I'll stay all day."

Tails smiled and hugged her again. He then picked up the pot, placed it in it's place on the shelf, and walked away with his arm around Breeze's waist. The plant sat in the sunlight and sparkled with the rays as the light illuminated the words painted in green on it's side.

The blue hedgehog smiled at his two friend's reunion and sped away to go inform everyone else at Vanilla's house. The black hedgehog, sensing that he wasn't needed anymore, flashed out of existence with the bright light of chaos control.

* * *

**Awwww, how cute!! But Shadow has a lot of conflicting feelings inside now. Anyways, you're probably wondering about what Eggman has to say about all of this...find out next!!**


	22. Chapter 22: Eggman's New Scheme

**Chapter 22:** Eggman's New Scheme

Waves washed up on the shore again and again. Never ceasing, always crashing, and never giving up in their relentless battle to push forward despite the force of gravity and current pulling them back. In a way, the evil genius felt just like the waves. Except his gravity was Sonic the Hedgehog; forever keeping him from reaching his goals and conquering the world.

"Doctor! Dr. Eggman!"

He turned his bald head at the shouts of his two robots, Bocoe and Decoe. They came running up to him and Decoe, the tall yellow one, continued shouting as before.

"Dr. Eggman, thank goodness we found you. Your Eggbase looks like it is done for!" he shouted, kicking up sand as he went.

"We should get out of here. If it explodes, we will get blasted along with it!" Bocoe, the short silver one, added.

They finally reached him, panting, and waited as he continued to gaze at the sea and the waves.

"Doctor?" they asked, worried. The Eggman didn't move.

"Maybe he's finally flipped," Decoe whispered to his friend, twirling his robotic fingers around his head in a motion to represent insanity.

"I would not be surprised. It is about time Sonic got to his head," Bocoe replied.

Eggman then began to chuckle, still turned away from the robots. Decoe and Bocoe gave each other worried glances.

"What is wrong with him?" Bocoe asked.

Eggman finally turned and grabbed the two robots by the arms. They exclaimed in shock, but the Doctor didn't let go. "Those sorry excuses for rescuers think they can destroy my base and take away my prize? Well not today! Not with Shadow on my side! I'll just move to my secret base and wait for Shadow to return that pesky little vixen to me. Then we can continue to look for the chaos emeralds!" he laughed excitedly then abruptly stopped and frowned as a third robot flew down from he sky.

"Bokkun, what are you doing here? I told you to go look for Shadow and Breeze," Eggman demanded of the small black messenger robot who hovered in the air using jet packs.

"I was, only…" Bokkun broke off, a scared look came over him and tears started to leak out of his mechanical eyes.

"Only what? Is Shadow on his way here?" Eggman said excitedly. He was, in fact, so excited that he didn't pay close attention to Bokkun's frightened expression and tearful face. Decoe and Bocoe, who had noticed, started to back away slowly. They knew this wasn't going to end well.

"SHADOW'S NOT BRINGING BREEZE BACK!" Bokkun shouted and immediately flew higher to escape Eggman's wrath.

"WHAT!!!" Eggman yelled and, when he couldn't find anything else to throw, picked up a handful of sand and tossed it angrily in Bokkun's direction.

"Hey! Don't blame the messenger!" Bokkun yelled at him, dusting himself off. Bocoe and Decoe were now well out of sight, though they stayed in hearing distance so they could listen to what had happened to Shadow.

"Get down here and tell me what happened right now you worthless piece of metal!" Eggman said shaking his fist at the sky where Bokkun hovered.

"I'm not saying anything until you calm down," the black robot said back and crossed his arms.

Eggman pouted and crossed his arms. He then smiled with an ingenious plan and reached out to the messenger. "Now, now there, Bokkun. Let's not get rebellious. Come on down to me and I'll cooperate."

Bokkun looked at the genius suspiciously but then slowly came down to hover right in front of him. Eggman immediately snatched him from the sky and shook him vigorously. "Alright, start talking or I'll scrap you!"

"Owwww, ok, ok! Shadow took Breeze back to Vanilla's house. He gave her back to Sonic and his friends and now he's staying with them," the robot cried amidst the shaking.

Eggman stopped and dropped Bokkun saying, "Why, that good for nothing traitor." He stood thoughtfully and finally burst out with, "Decoe! Bocoe! Get over here!"

"Yes, Doctor, coming," the robots replied emerging from behind a large boulder. "What is the plan now?"

"Well, if Shadow insists on betraying me then I guess he'll have to face me sooner or later for his crime. Until then I think it's time to start working on my newest creation! After all, I do need another kidnapper if we are ever going to get those chaos emeralds!" Eggman said. He turned and started to walk towards his secret base with the three confused and terrified robots following behind him.

"I have a feeling this could get bad," Bocoe said to Decoe.

"I agree," was the response. Bokkun just dried his eyes and followed dejectedly.

Back at Vanilla's house, things were getting frantic. Where had Breeze and Shadow got to? Had the black hedgehog gone back on his word and taken her to Eggman after all? No one knew, but all were desperately searching for clues, especially the members of the Chaotix Detective Agency.

"There has to be something in this room that could give us a hint as to what happened," Vector was saying as he lifted the bed off the ground to look under it. They were in Vanilla's room, the last place anyone had seen the hedgehog and vixen.

"We've searched this place all day and there's nothing here!" Charmy whined. "Do we have to keep looking? I'm all worn out." He plopped down on the bed after Vector had dropped it.

"I must say, we haven't done much but destroy Vanilla's room," Espio observed calmly from his place in the corner.

"I know," Vector said abashedly and looked around at the mess. "But there's just gotta be something."

"Let's face it, even if we found out what happened we'd never be able to catch them. That hedgehog can use the power of the chaos emeralds to jump from place to place," Espio continued.

"That's too fast even for me!" Charmy complained.

"What are you talking about? You're as slow as a turtle!" Vector said to him.

The little bee pouted, "At least my brain's faster than yours."

"What?!"

"Um…excuse me. Have you found anything yet?" a small voice interrupted from the doorway, stopping the certain fight that was brewing between bug and reptile.

Vector looked to see Cream shyly standing with Cheese hovering above her. "No, not yet, but we're getting closer."

"Yeah, right," Charmy said sarcastically under his breath.

"Ok, I'll just go tell my mom," the little rabbit said and dashed off.

"What did you lie for, Vector? We haven't even come close to finding anything," Charmy scolded.

"Shut up. I know what I'm doing," Vector replied.

"He's right, Vector. Let's just call it quits," Espio suggested.

Vector sighed. He didn't want to let everyone down, but there just wasn't anything to look for. The crocodile walked over to the opened window in Vanilla's room and looked out towards the horizon. Charmy and Espio watched him, decided he had given up, and were about to turn to leave when Vector suddenly exclaimed, "Hey guys, look! It's Sonic!"

The three misfits crammed up against the window to watch a speeding blue blur slowly become visible as a hedgehog moving very fast in their direction. He must have seen them sticking their faces out, because instead of going into the house he jumped up to the window and gave them all quite a start.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" he said.

"Breeze and Shadow are missing so everyone's been looking for them. There's no trace and we don't know what to do!" Vector explained to the blue hero.

"No sweat. Breeze is fine. She's with Tails at his workshop and I'm happy to say they are back to being friends again! Come on, let's go tell the others!"

They followed Sonic out the door and into the living room where everyone else had been taking a break with some cool juice. As soon as Sonic entered he was immediately pounced upon by everyone demanding an explanation. They hated not knowing what was going on.

"Relax," Sonic told them and then explained what had happened with Breeze and Tails. Once that was out, everyone looked extremely relieved and happy that the two foxes were friends again.

"That certainly was sweet of Breeze to go find Cosmo, but now Tails has her again and I thought the whole point was to get rid of that plant so he wouldn't be so sad," Amy pointed out.

"Oh, don't worry, Amy. I think Breeze changed his mind," Sonic said with a wink.

"But how did Breeze get away from right under Vanilla's nose?" Chris asked.

"She had Shadow with her and that emerald that Knuckles gave her. Shadow used chaos control to jump them wherever they wanted," Sonic explained.

"Sonic," Cream said, pulling on his arm. "You said Breeze was with Tails, but what happened to Mr. Shadow?"

Sonic shrugged. "Last time I saw him he was outside Tails' workshop."

"I saw him," a gruff voice said from the entrance and everyone turned to see Knuckles.

"Where'd you see him?" Sonic asked.

"He was skating around on Angel Island. It didn't look like he was going any where, just letting off steam. That hedgehog is kind of freaky sometimes. I just stopped by to see what was going on after I saw him. Did you guys kick him out or something?"

"Someone else explain it to him, I sick of repeating the same old story. I'm gonna go find Shadow," Sonic said.

"Oh, you always have to leave!" Amy whined.

"Don't worry, I'll be back."

"Then let me give you a hug first!"

Sonic tried to dodge it, but for some reason when it came to Amy, the blue hedgehog was never fast enough. She successfully gave him a big squeezing hug before he struggled out of her arms. He was definitely going to have to do something about Amy, but later. He sped off, chuckling while running when Knuckles was suddenly bombarded with the story by everyone.

Shadow kept going. His skates, that made him as fast as the speedy blue hedgehog, never quit working and his energy never waned thanks to the chaos emeralds. He still held onto Breeze's light blue emerald, but he was going to give it back. He'd have Knuckles to answer to if he didn't. He felt sort of free. No Eggman to do things for, no emeralds to steal, and no Sonic to fight. It was just him and nature on the silent and cool afternoon.

He was always boiling inside. It was just the way he was. Exercise always helped him to cool down some, so he did laps around the floating island. He supposed he felt upset because Breeze had abandoned him for Tails, but then he remembered he could never get angry at Breeze, so he blamed Tails. That whining fox couldn't make up his mind. He was always in a battle between Cosmo and Breeze. Cosmo didn't even exist anymore…well maybe she did somewhere, but she certainly wasn't coming back here. Then Shadow realized that the person he needed to blame was Cosmo. If they had never found her they could still be in peace here on Mobius. The perilous space adventure would have never happened and Breeze would have never had the trouble with Tails that had made her so sad.

He stopped skating and kicked a tree in half just to prove his point. _There, see, we don't need trees_, he thought to himself. Somebody cleared their throat behind him and he slowly turned to see Sonic watching him in amusement.

"Hey, Shadow. Now I wonder, what was that supposed to do?"

"None of your business."

"Ok, so whatcha' doing?" the blue hedgehog asked.

"That's none of your business as well," Shadow replied_. So much for being free of Sonic! _

"Well ok…hey what's that?" Sonic said pointing to the sky where a small black dot was slowly getting closer and closer.

Shadow looked up and watched with Sonic as the black dot took form into a little black robot with jet packs heading straight for them. "Oh, no! Not Bokkun again," Sonic said.

Bokkun spotted them among the trees and came down for a landing, laughing in his high pitched voice. "Hello, Shadow and Sonic. Long time no see! Anyways, I have a message for you, Shadow, from Dr. Eggman. You might as well listen too, Sonic. Believe me, he's not happy!"

Bokkun took out a small outdated television and Eggman's angry face came up on the screen. "Hello, Shadow," it said. "Nice to see you're enjoying the day. I just want you to know that I'm going to get you for betraying me. In fact, the first target in my plan to make you miserable is none other than your little blue friend, and I'm not talking about Sonic! If you didn't know, she and that annoying yellow fox are out for a stroll and are about to get ambushed by my newest creation! The Eggsnatcher! It's too late now, you'll never get there in time, and once my sleek machine takes out Tails, Breeze will be all mine!" He laughed maniacally and the screen went black.

Shadow and Sonic looked at each other, they looked at Bokkun, and then they both abruptly sped off to find the two fox friends despite Eggman's confident message. Shadow activated chaos control and jumped away in a flash while Sonic sped off at top speed towards Tails' workshop thinking, _Thanks a lot for leaving me behind, Shadow! You could have at least brought me along with your chaos control and I could've helped you. I don't even know where Breeze and Tails are! But I'm not giving up, ever! Hold on guys, we're coming!_

Bokkun stood in the forest by himself, completely astonished by the speed in which the two hedgehogs had disappeared. He was so stunned that he forgot he was still holding the yellow television…

_BOOM!_

Bokkun blinked dumbly after the television had blown up in his face. "Hey! That was supposed to happen to Shadow and Sonic, not me!" he cried and flew back home to Eggman, bawling to whole way.

* * *

**It seems like Eggman will never give up! And why is he always after chaos emeralds anyways? He needs to find a new source of power for his machines. Will Tails and Breeze be saved from the new robot? Find out next! Please review!**


	23. Chapter 23: Eggsnatcher

**Chapter 23: **Eggsnatcher

Tails and Breeze were out walking through the forest right behind Tails' workshop. Tails had told Breeze the whole Cosmo story and she was silent for awhile. Thinking about how terrible it must have been for Tails to loose Cosmo and about how relieved she was that she finally understood everything now. Tails was a little upset after telling his story, but Breeze took his hand and they walked some more together, slowly forgetting the hurt and simply enjoying one another's company. Tails liked the way Breeze could make him forget about everything and just relax. She had that effect on him now as he realized that Cosmo was slowly fading away. Not that she'd ever entirely leave his heart, but now instead of possessing his whole being and thoughts, Cosmo was being pushed out and replaced by something new; Breeze's friendship. Tails glanced over at Breeze's content face and smiled, thinking to himself, _maybe there is something a little bit more than friendship in my feelings for Breeze, but I won't tell her how I feel yet. I'd rather just enjoy the day with her; nothing's coming between us._

The day was turning into a beautiful one as light danced through the leaves of the trees above them. Breeze loved the forest, but she thought that she would really like to visit the ocean. It was so open and spacey there. It felt like a whole different world. As they walked on, Breeze suddenly noticed a dark looking shape among all of the greens and browns of the forest. It looked metallic, but she couldn't be sure what it was.

"Hey, Tails? What do you suppose that is? Has it always been there?" She asked, curious.

Tails looked in the direction she pointed and put his free hand on his chin, thinking. "I've never seen it before, but it looks like a robot or something."

"Let's go check it out!" Breeze exclaimed, ready for a little adventure.

"I don't know…it could be dangerous."

"Relax, nothing could possibly go wrong! Today is so perfect!" Breeze assured him and trotted towards the hulking piece of metal. Tails followed behind her and they soon stood in front of a smooth, egg shaped piece of metal. Tails couldn't see any knobs or other mechanical devices on it that might hint to what it could be. It was just there, an eyesore in the lovely forest.

Breeze, feeling very adventurous and cocky, tiptoed up to the hulk of metal and banged on it with her knuckles. A hollow metallic sound resounded out into the forest.

"Breeze! What are you doing! What if Eggman is behind this!" Tails exclaimed and leaped forward to pull her back. But, of course, it was too late. Breeze's curiosity had go the better of her as the metal egg suddenly made a whining sound and with a metallic crunch slowly turned around to face the two frightened foxes.

They had only been looking at the back of a massive and complex machine bearing flashing lights and bright screens with data information flashing across. Two mechanical red eyes sat at the top of it and glowed down with any vehemence a machine might have. In the center of the giant egg there was a large hole that seemed to go on and on into the machine's core. It looked like there was no end to the eternal blackness that filled the hole, though both Breeze and Tails had seen that the egg machine did have a back end.

Shaking in fear Tails stepped in front of Breeze as the machine gradually finished starting up and seemed to look at them. Through the speakers that were bolted onto the front of it, just below the red eyes, a terrible static voice said in robotic fashion, "Eggsnatcher identified targets. Destroy Tails and capture Breeze." The Eggsnatcher advanced towards them, weapons out and a strange whirling light starting up inside the endless black hole on it's middle.

"Breeze, run!" Tails shouted and stood to face off the robot, not sure of what he could possibly do to stop it.

"I won't leave you, Tails! Let me help," she replied and took a ready stance next to him.

"Are you crazy?" he asked and gripped her shoulders as the Eggsnatcher prepared to fire. "You'll be captured again. Get out of here while there's still hope and go for help!"

"You'll be killed—" she shouted but was cut off when the machine let loose a torrent of missiles in their direction. Tails leapt above them at the last minute, using his twin tails to propel himself forward and bringing Breeze along with him. The Eggsnatcher continued to bombard them with bullets, lasers, and missiles as Tails danced around in the air, avoiding them as best as he could.

Breeze suddenly had an idea and, though she was in Tails' arms and was being shaken around by his frantic flying, she pulled out her blue bow and arrows and took aim at the robot's eyes. Concentrating and trying to relax despite the jostling, she released her explosive tipped arrow and watched as it hit it's mark on the robot's right eye and exploded.

"Good shot, Breeze!" Tails exclaimed as the eye blinked and went black; a gaping hole of wires and sparks was all that was left. The robot, apparently angered by the loss of his eye, started to fire again and with more ferocity.

"Waaaaaa!' Tails screamed as a missiles hit a tree behind him and the blast caused him to spiral out of control and fall to the ground. The two fox tumbled to a stop and sweat dripped from Tails as he scrambled over to Breeze and tried to lift her up again. The Eggsnatcher took advantage of the fall and moved until it was looming over them. "Prepare to be destroyed," it said and pointed all weapons at Tails again. Tails covered Breeze with his body and squeezed his eyes shut…only to hear a loud crash and realize that he wasn't dead yet.

"SHADOW!" he heard Breeze yell with joy and he opened his eyes to see the black and red hedgehog standing in front of them. The machine was flung back over a few feet after Shadow had knocked it out of the way.

"Stay down," Shadow said calmly and grinned. "I'll take care of this." He sped off on his skates towards the giant egg robot and attacked it with chaos spears. Breeze and Tails watched excitedly from the side, hoping he would prevail.

The fight wore on with Shadow nimbly dodging the attacks from the Eggsnatcher and shooting chaos spears at the massive hulk of metal. The egg shaped robot was soon smoking and short circuiting from all of it's parts and the end looked near. As if realizing it was about to meet it's demise, the robot resorted to the last weapon it had as a defense. The hole on it's hollow middle fired up and the whirling light that had been there before suddenly got brighter and shone into Shadow's eyes with a sudden intensity, blinding him. He threw his hands up over his eyes and the robot moved and knocked the two chaos emeralds from his grasp. As the emeralds fell to the ground and Tails and Breeze rushed forward to grab them for Shadow, the bright light in the machine's center expanded and enveloped the three fighters. In a flash it was gone again and the robot stood in the demolished area all alone with two chaos emeralds and nothing but knocked over trees and ripped up ground.

The circuits inside it's mechanical head turned as it realized it had screwed up. It had not captured the blue vixen and had not destroyed the two tailed fox. Instead, in its desperate effort to protect itself, it had used it's capturing device to transport the three attackers to some unknown place. The Doctor would not be pleased because the robot had not had time to program the transporter to send them to the secret base. Breeze was now who knew where, and worse, she had Tails and Shadow to help her out. The robot turned away dejectedly and stomped back to Eggman, leaving the yellow and light blue chaos emeralds behind.

Sonic came bursting through the trees into the battle zone and was shocked to find nothing but destruction and dirt. He hadn't made it on time! Breeze and Tails were gone! But where was Shadow? Shouldn't he have been here by now?

Sonic stood with hands on his hips and thought. He had heard yelling and saw smoke coming from here, and he saw the evidence of the fight, but there was nothing else to clue him to where his friends were and what had happened.

"Sonic!" he heard someone yell behind him and turned to see Knuckles emerging from the forest. "What's going on here, Sonic! I heard something that sounded like a fight, but I don't see any enemies. Did you destroy one of Eggman's robots without me?" the red echidna complained.

"No, that's not it at all. Eggman sent a robot to catch Breeze, but I guess I got here too late. They're already gone. Tails, too," Sonic explained.

"What! Breeze has been captured!" Knuckles shouted, furious that his little blue friend was in danger again.

"I guess so. That's all I can figure," Sonic shrugged.

Knuckles' brows furrowed and he pointed at Sonic, "It's all your fault, hedgehog! I thought you were supposed to be fast—wait, what's that!" Knuckles cut off his torrent of angry accusations and walked over to something shining on the ground. "It's two chaos emeralds! And this is the one that I gave to Breeze."

Sonic came over and looked over his shoulder at the light blue and yellow chaos emeralds Knuckles had picked up off of the ground. "Shadow had that one," he said pointing to the yellow emerald.

"Does that mean he was here?"

"Of course! Shadow must have got here just in time to save the two foxes! But where are they now and why did Shadow leave the chaos emeralds here?" Sonic wondered, scratching his head.

"Who knows, but whatever happened, we have to find them!" Knuckles announced. "Look, there's a trail leading into the woods over there. It looks like a robot could have made it! I'll follow that and see where it leads."

"Ok! I'll run back to the house and organize a search party, then I'll go look all around myself. Don't worry, no matter where they are or what happened, we'll soon find out!" Sonic said and took off in a flash of blue light.

Knuckles gripped the two emeralds tightly and trudged off after the Eggsnatcher's tracks. Though he didn't notice, a shifty shadow followed after him, gliding from tree to tree in the distance.

* * *

**Sorry I could only post one chapter this time, I've been sick really groggy latley. Next one will come up hopefully on Monday! Untill then...**


	24. Chapter 24: A Desert?

**Chapter 24: **A Desert?

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" Breeze screamed as bright tendrils of color and flashes of light burst all around her. She was tumbling head over heels in nothingness while this spectacular display was flashing and sparking. It would have been quite beautiful if she were not so dizzy and frightened. It seemed to be lasting forever and all she wanted was for it to stop!

Finally, after what seemed a long time, she felt her back make contact with something hard and gritty. "Owwww!" she said and tried to open her eyes, but gave up when the world she saw was spinning like crazy. Instead she just lay back and kept her eyes closed, waiting for the dizziness to disappear. She hated being transported! She couldn't understand how Shadow dealt with it all the time when he used chaos control. Of course, when he transported it was nothing like this had been, but now she felt a strong aversion to anything that was going to teleport her anywhere in an unnatural way.

"I guess I should take flying lessons," she said to herself and then decided to chance opening her eyes again…

Tails sat up and moaned. He rubbed his head where he had come crash landing into the ground after all the spinning. His dizziness soon wore off and he opened his eyes to a bright light. He stood up and gasped at what he saw. He was standing in a desert! Miles of sand stretched around him and the sun reflected brightly off of the desolate area. There were a few mountain looking things far in the distance, but nothing else. He turned his head in a different direction and immediately his gaze was blocked by a wall of black and red. He jumped back a little in shock, and then relaxed when he realized it was only Shadow that had been blocking his vision. The hedgehog stood with his back to Tails looking off into the distance with arms crossed.

"I was waiting for you to wake up. I guess it takes weaker creatures a little longer to recuperate than it does more powerful ones like me," Shadow said, his back still turned towards Tails.

"What? Hey, I'm not that weak. I help Sonic all the time," Tails said back.

"I've noticed Sonic tends to let the younger more inexperienced do his dirty work."

"There's nothing dirty about saving the world."

"Hmpf," Shadow said and then turned to face Tails. "Well, even if you are too young to be much use I guess I'll have to make due."

"You like Breeze well enough and she's younger than me," Tails argued becoming irritated with the way Shadow was calmly criticizing him.

"She's very mature for her age."

Tails scowled and his eyebrows furrowed in a mean glare. He then suddenly abandoned any back talk he had for Shadow when he realized something very important…Breeze was nowhere to be seen!

Breeze whirled around wildly, looking for someone she knew, but all she could see was sand. She stood alone in the middle of a desert with nobody! Her tail swayed back and forth as anxiety hit her and she sat down hard on the gritty sand. What was she going to do?

She put her head down between her knees and cursed herself for being so stupid and insisting on finding out what that stupid robot was doing in the forest. She had ruined a perfectly wonderful day with her curiosity. Now she had no idea where she was and what had happened to Tails and Shadow. She remembered Shadow attacking the robot and then it knocked him down and a bright light flashed and then all three of them were sucked into this vortex thing…they were transported to a desert? That much was certain…well, _she_ was transported to a desert. Since Tails and Shadow were nowhere near they must be somewhere else. Maybe all three of them were alone. Shadow would be okay, but Tails may need some help. She lifted her head up and set a determined look on her face. It didn't matter; she wasn't captured by Eggman so she still had a chance of being rescued. Shadow could find her easy. All he had to do was jump around using chaos control, and Sonic could find her too! He was so fast that he'd probably been here before! He just had to run around the whole world until he found her. It shouldn't take that long.

She stood up and started walking towards the sunset. It had been a long day and the bright rays of the sun were slowly sinking into the west. Maybe if she could reach those mountains in the distance she wouldn't feel so exposed. Then Sonic could find her and she could get Chris to take her in the X Tornado and look for Tails and Shadow. A light breeze blew through her fur as she walked on, giving her the strength to find a way out of this mess.

"Breeze is gone! She's not here! Where is she, Shadow! What did you do with her?!" Tails yelled and looked as though he was going to attack the black hedgehog.

"Calm down, she was gone before I was able to open my eyes after that terrible excuse for a transportation device."

"You mean she was never here?"

"Exactly."

"Oh, no! That means she didn't get caught in the transporting or that it sent her somewhere else," Tails said frantically and looked around again to make sure Breeze wasn't just over a hill or behind a rock.

"So you don't know anything about what happened to us or where we are?" Shadow asked the fox, patiently.

"No, of course not, I only know that it was Eggman's robot and that it wanted to kill me but since it couldn't it just sent us all here. It probably didn't even know where it was sending us. Eggman's plans are never that thorough."

"Useless…" Shadow mumbled.

"Well, what about you? Why don't you use chaos control and get us out of here? We have to find Breeze before it gets to dark," Tails pointed out.

Shadow stared at him and realized that the statement he had just made applied to himself as well. "I don't have the chaos emeralds."

"Useless…" Tails said.

"Like I could have done anything about it. That robot knocked them out of my hands and then spirited us away," Shadow said through clenched teeth.

Tails sighed. "Ok, so we're pretty much stuck here."

"Well, we could start walking," Shadow said and turned away, walking towards the small mountains in the distance.

"Yeah!" Tails agreed and trotted forward to catch up with him. "Maybe we'll bump into Breeze!"

"What are the chances of that?"

"Well," Tails said scratching his head as he walked. "Breeze could have been sent somewhere else around here, missed being transported and that means she's still back in the forest, or maybe the robot sent her to Eggman. That's a seventy-five percent chance we may find her!"

Shadow shook his head in amusement. Leave it to the technical fox to start spewing numbers and statistics. "So if the first option is true, then she's somewhere near us?"

"She'd have to be. Eggman couldn't have made that wide of a transport radius inside a robot that small. The space time continuum wouldn't allow mass of our size to be dematerialized and then become rematerialized over a large expanse—"

"Just speak plainly" Shadow said, not understanding the fox's technical terminology.

"Um…the machine was too small to send all three of us to a far away place. Breeze was small enough to be sent a little farther away than we were, but she shouldn't be too far from here. It all makes since now that I think of it."

"This is in theory, however."

"Yeah…but it's a good theory!"

Shadow remained silent and kept walking. The two-tailed fox had made things seem a little better, but Shadow was pessimistic. He just hoped they could find the little lost vixen. He didn't show it but inside he was worried sick about where she might be and what may be happening to her. He was also disappointed in himself for failing to protect her. Maybe he wasn't as ultimate as he was made out to be.

The sun sank into the horizon as the orange-yellow fox and black and red hedgehog trudged onward, side by side. Both were deep in thought about different things and about the same things. Where was Breeze? Would she be okay? Why the hell hadn't Sonic showed up yet?

Eggman just finished unscrewing the last bolt on his Eggsnatcher robot when Bokkun flew into the secret workshop, panting and sputtering until he reached a table to land on.

"Well? Any luck?" the doctor asked. He had sent Bokkun out on a mission to find Breeze while he was busy scrapping the useless Eggsnatcher.

"No, I flew everywhere and didn't see a thing except for Knuckles following a robot trail," Bokkun whined and flopped down flat on his back.

"You should not work him so hard, doctor," Decoe scolded.

"That is right. It is bad for his circuits," Bocoe agreed.

"Would you rather be out there in the heat looking!" the evil doctor shouted at them. "I should have disassembled all three of you useless heaps of junk along time ago! You're just as worthless as the late Eggsnatcher!"

"May I remind you, doctor, that you were the one who built us," Bocoe replied and then slapped a hand over where his mouth would have been.

"What! What's that supposed to mean? Are you calling _me_ useless?!"

"He said it, doctor, not me. I think you're very useful," Decoe said quickly to remove himself from danger.

"Shut Up! All of you!" Eggman yelled and banged his fist on his desk. "I want all three of you to go out and look while I deviously plan a new strategy."

"Now look what you have done!" Decoe said angrily to Bocoe. "We have to go out there when it is getting dark and go get lost in a forest!"

"How is that my fault? He would have sent us even if I had not made that truthful statement!"

"GET OUT!" Eggman yelled.

"Yes, doctor!" the robots said and sped off out the door with Bokkun wailing behind them.

"But I'm tired!" He complained the whole way.

"Tough luck!" Bocoe said.

They walked out into the darkening forest and marched forward, each robot very cross with Eggman and the bad treatment. Bokkun lagged behind and then decided that no one would ever notice if he took a quick nap. He settled down on a large limb and peacefully sighed. "Let those two bolt heads look for Breeze. I'm taking a nap."

"Why good evening, Bokkun," a gruff voice said and snatched him off the tree.

"Knuckles! What are you doing here so close to Eggman's secret base?" Bokkun croaked as Knuckles squeezed his neck.

"Well I'm not as stupid as you metal heads are. I just followed that robots trail straight here, and if Eggman is holding Breeze I'm getting her back," Knuckles replied and, still holding Bokkun continued to tromp up the trail right to Eggman's base.

"Boy is he going to be thrilled about your visit," Bokkun said sarcastically. "Why is it that Decoe and Bocoe always seem get out of the trouble?"

Knuckles grinned and prepared to smash his way into the not so secret base hidden deep in the woods as the sun finally disappeared on the horizon.


	25. Chapter 25: Attack on the Base

**Chapter 25: **Attack on the Base

Back at Vanilla's house, Sonic had just left after his speedy rendition of what happened to Tails, Breeze, and Shadow. Chris was ready to jump in the X Tornado, only…the X Tornado was at Tail's workshop and they didn't have anything else nearby to fly around in.

"That's ok, Chris! Follow me, I think I may have something that could help," Amy said with a wink and flounced out of the house.

"Can I go too, Momma?" Cream asked hopefully.

"Chao, chao," Cheese agreed.

"Alright, but don't get in the way and stay out of trouble, dear," Vanilla said.

"You know I will!"

Chris, Cream, and Cheese followed Amy as she walked down the path leading away from Vanilla's house.

"So, Amy, where are we going?" Chris finally asked.

"To my house of course," Amy replied.

"What's at your house that could help us find Breeze and the others?"

"Oh, you'll see," she said as they finally reached the small pinkish house. Amy walked around to the back where there was a large garage sitting in the yard.

"I had Tails build this for me," she said indicating the garage. She pulled out a remote and hit a button, opening the garage door. Everyone looked inside while Amy smugly stood in the doorway.

"You have your own ship!" Chris exclaimed as a small space ship was revealed in the fading light.

"Yup, I used it during the Metarex wars."

"Oh, yeah, I remember. I thought it had been destroyed," Chris said thoughtfully and placed a hand on the ship's side.

"I know it's supposed to be used in space, but I'm pretty sure it should work the same here. So what are we waiting for? Let's go find our friends!" Amy said happily, fist thrust into the air.

"Just one problem, Amy. This ship can only fit two people and there's three of us, not counting Cheese," Chris pointed out.

"Chao!" Cheese complained.

"That's alright, Chris. I guess I'll just stay here," Cream said disappointedly.

"No way, Cream! You're coming with us! I'll ride on top just like Sonic does," Amy said, imagining her hero with dreamy eyes.

"Um…are you sure you won't fall off?" Chris asked.

"Of course I'm sure! What do I look like, a little girl?! If Sonic can do it, so can I!" Amy screeched.

"Alright, alright, no need to shout. I'll just fire it up and…wait a minute!" Chris exclaimed again and put his hands on his head. "I can't fly this, it's _pink_!"

"So?" Amy said looking at him disgustedly.

"It's a girl color," Chris ranted.

"Do you want to find Breeze, Tails, and Shadow or not?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Then fly the pink ship!"

"Ok, ok!" Chris gave in and jumped into the cockpit. Cream and Cheese piled in behind him, excited that they were included on the adventure. Chris closed the glass top and said, "You ready, Amy?"

Amy jumped on top of the ship and braced herself, "Ready!"

"Alright then, take off!"

The pink ship with the pink hedgehog standing on top shot out of the garage and soared into the sky. Chris looked around to see if anyone had seen that he was piloting the girly craft. _Oh, good, no one's around. I hope Sonic and Knuckles find everyone before we do so I won't have to land this thing in front of them, but if not I guess I'll just grin and bear it._

"Oh yeah! Go Pink Rose!" Amy shouted into the wind wielding her hammer. _Oh man,_ Chris thought and groaned. _It just keeps getting worse! _The ship flew on into the sunset, desperately searching for three lost companions.

Knuckles smashed his powerful fists into the thick steel that walled Eggman's secret base. He was making progress. Only a bit more and he'd have a hole large enough to slip in.

"Could you put me down! You're jolting me with every strike of that oversized hand of yours!" Bokkun whined from Knuckles' grasp.

"No," the echidna panted. "You'll just go tell Eggman that I'm here. I'm trying to be sneaky."

"Well you're not doing a very good job. I could hear this racket two thousand miles away!"

"Shut up you little pest or I'll—" his threat was cut off when a series of sirens resounded about the base. Red lights flashed brightly and Knuckles growled.

"Now look what you've done. You woke the whole base! Not that I'm surprised," Bokkun insulted him.

"Good, I need a good fight to calm me down and keep me from smashing your face in!" Knuckles hit the wall once more and then jumped into the base through the hole he had created. He hurried down the hall in search of a prison room or someplace Eggman might keep Breeze. Loud speakers repeated "intruder alert, intruder alert" over and over as sirens buzzed and whined around his head. Eggman's base was very big. Too big to do anything quick, so he decided that maybe the annoying black robot he still held might come in handy.

"Alright, Bokkun, start talking. Where's Breeze?" Knuckles said as he stopped in the hall and shook the little robot again.

"Breeze? Is that why you're here? I don't know. We don't have her," Bokkun said gasping.

"Alright, that's it! I'm sick of Eggman and his lies!" with that statement Knuckles dashed forward. He ran on looking for anything that might clue him to what was going on. This was Eggman's base and he had to have had something to do with Breeze's disappearance. After all, Knuckles had tracked that robot back here. A lighted doorway soon appeared and Knuckles came to a halt in front of it.

Eggman mumbled under his breath as he sent destroyer robots out to look for the intruder. He had no idea who it was that had broken into his base, but he had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with Sonic. He flipped another switch and grumbled into a speaker to his robots, "Hurry up! Find that intruder and bring him here!"

Eggman sat back and groaned. Why had he sent Decoe and Bocoe away? Now he had to do all of the tiresome deploying and recalling of his robotic troops instead of sitting above them in his chair and coming up with evil plots. This was getting annoying. Wait! He knew what to do now!

"I'll deploy my newest robot to go find the intruder and then Breeze—ahhhhhh!" Eggman screamed as he was cut off from his evil musings by a loud noise and smoke as his office door was suddenly busted open and flung towards him. Eggman ducked and jumped out of the way, which he could do amazingly fast for someone of so much weight. He looked up, glaring at the person who had ruined his thinking, and sneering with his straight teeth. Knuckles stood in the doorway, clearing smoke slowly dissolving around him.

"How's it been, Eggman?"

"Not too bad, Knuckles…until you went and broke my door down. Didn't you meet any of my search robots on your way here?"

"No, they must be a little slow," Knuckles answered and slowly advanced forward.

"Slow? I knew it! I should have scrapped those useless machines along time ago and came up with new ones!" Eggman said to himself.

"Hey! Pay attention to me! That's why I came here. Now where's Breeze?!" Knuckles shouted and thrust his fist forward.

"Breeze…?" Eggman said confused.

"Arrrrrrrgh!" Knuckles raised his fist.

"Oh! Breeze!" Eggman said hastily, backing away with warding hands before him. He backed into his computer desktop and put his hands near the controls behind his back. "You can have her if you want her, Knuckles. I've decided to let her go. It was too evil to keep such a little thing cooped up here at my base. She's through that door," he continued and pointed at a door to the side of the room.

"Thank you, Eggman. Sometimes you're not as evil as we all believe," Knuckles said and dropped Bokkun roughly to the floor as he walked towards the door.

"Doctor, what are you doing? We don't have Breeze," Bokkun said as he rushed over to the doctor.

"Shhh, I know that…but Knucklehead there doesn't. Hahahahaha, it's time to spring my trap!" Eggman laughed and pushed a button on the control panel when Knuckles had a hand on the door.

"Waaaaaaaa!" Knuckles cried as the door swung open and he fell inside a dark room. He couldn't see a thing, but he could hear Eggman's voice jeering at him through the wall.

"You fell for my tricks again, Knuckles! I don't have Breeze, but I do have someone else for you to meet!"

A loud metallic sound resounded in the dark room with Knuckles and he frantically looked around. All was pitch black.

"It's a new robot I created that can find things in almost any condition…even in the dark. Once it's done with you I'll send it after Breeze!" Eggman yelled excitedly.

"Eggman! Let me out of here!" Knuckles pounded on the door.

"A futile request my red friend. Goodbye Knuckles."

The sound of footsteps approached him and Knuckles suddenly found himself flung against the hard metal walls of the room. The robot must have found him! How could he fight what he couldn't see? How could the robot see him? He stood and braced himself, listening. He heard the mechanical arms and tried to move, but he wasn't as fast as Sonic. The robot slammed him again. _I'll never give up no matter how hard you try, robot! _

Knuckles stood back up and prepared himself for another attack, it never came. Up above him the ceiling blew in and a hole revealed the night sky full of twinkling stars. Knuckles could see the massive hulk of the robot as moonlight flooded in and he jumped forward and slammed his own fist into the mechanical foot. The robot jumped back as it's foot was smashed clean off by Knuckles' powerful fists and it fell back with a crash.

A dark shaped swooped into the newly created hole and with a swoosh of wings flew over Knuckles' head. He lifted his head up to see who it was, but was suddenly jerked up into the sky and found himself moving towards the gaping hole in the ceiling and then out into the open air.

"Noooooooo! I wanted to pummel that echidna! How did he get away!? Oh, well that's not important. Bokkun, go in there and get my Eggseeker. I guess I'll just have to make repairs and send it out after Breeze," Eggman yelled at the black messenger robot.

"Yes, Doctor!"

"Hmmmm, they think they're too smart for me. Well I'll show them all. They'll be singing a different tune once they see I have captured Breeze again!"

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**Hello again! I finally got another chapter up. I've recently been watching the old Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM. It's too bad they canceled that show, but I'm more of a SonicxAmy fan than a SonicxSally. I know this chapter has too much Knuckles in it, but not to worry. Next one is going to be a lot of Breeze, Tails, and Shadow! I just have to fill in the details about what's happening around them with the other characters.  
**


	26. Chapter 26: Sandy Night

**Chapter 26:** Sandy Night

Stars shone brightly in the night as Shadow walked onward. He felt as if he could walk the world until he found Breeze, but from the looks of things Tails obviously couldn't. The little fox was tired and worn. His tails drug through the sand and his head drooped down on his chest as though he were walking in his sleep. He was lagging behind and Shadow decided that he might as well stop and let the little guy rest. After all, if he left Tails and went on ahead the fox may get into trouble and then there would be two foxes that needed rescuing. Shadow paused on a mound of sand and waited for Tails to reach him.

"Why'd you stop, Shadow?" Tails panted when he finally stood next to the black hedgehog again.

"You look tired. I think we can afford to rest awhile."

"Thanks, but no thanks. We've got to keep looking for Breeze," the two tailed fox said determinedly and started to make his way down the hill.

"Don't be stupid, you won't last much longer if you keep this pace up. Don't try and out do me, Tails, I am the ultimate life form you know," Shadow replied not moving from his place.

"I know, but we just can't stop. Breeze is out there somewhere all alone and we can't give up on her!" Tails said and then fell to his knees in exhaustion.

Shadow tilted his head at the fallen fox and then sighed. He walked over and knelt down beside Tails when he saw that the fox was crying. Lines of wet tears trickled down Tails' face, cleaning away the caked dirt and grime that was stuck in his fur from the hours of walking. It made him look as if there were lines on his face except for the fact that they were wet and smeared.

"Why can't I be strong enough to keep going like you? I feel so weak and useless," he sobbed.

"The answer to that is simple, you're not me." Shadow stood up and looked around. "Morning will be here soon and you haven't slept at all. Breeze probably stopped to rest too, that is assuming she's out here. We can stop for awhile."

"Why don't you just go on without me? I'm slowing you down."

"Because then you'd be in trouble. You mean a lot to Breeze and I don't want to abandon you."

Tails sniffed and nodded, "Alright, I'll rest for a little, then we're going to keep looking." Shadow nodded, satisfied and crossed his arms, gazing into space. He was prepared to wait for at least an hour, though the fox would most likely need more than that as well as food before he got back to normal. _Why didn't I keep hold of those chaos emeralds? It would have been so much easier to find Breeze if I had them and I could have dropped Tails off at his house before I went looking._

"Shadow? Why did you turn from Eggman's side to ours?" Shadow heard Tails asking from his place in the sand.

"Because of Breeze."

"Oh…so why did Eggman want to capture Breeze in the first place?"

Shadow considered telling the fox about Breeze's special ability. It's not like it would hurt to tell him, but for some reason he preferred to keep that secret to himself. He was just being selfish. "Breeze has a special ability and Eggman wanted her so he could use it to his advantage. It's really obvious what it is, it surprises me that know one else has figured it out."

"Her ability to always hit her target with her bow?"

"No, it's another one."

"Well I certainly don't know what you're talking about. She never told me anything."

"She doesn't know it herself."

Tails looked at him in confusion and then set his quick brain to thinking about what it may be. Finally something hit him! In the story of how her family died she had said she found them in Eggman's ship real easy, she found Cream and Cheese in seconds flat when they played hide and seek, she had told him stories about when she had found various things around the house for her family when everyone had searched for days with no luck, she had found Cosmo in ten minutes when he had looked for hours, and she had found out why he was so scared that night of the thunderstorm! Breeze was good at finding things!

"Shadow! I got it! Breeze finds things on an emotional and physical level," Tails exclaimed.

"Very good, you're smarter than I thought."

"So Eggman wants to use her to find something? What?"

"Seriously, what do you think? What is Eggman always trying to get his hands on?"

"Chaos emeralds," Tails realized. "That means he'll be after her again! Come on, Shadow, we have to go after her!" Tails said and stood up again.

"You haven't even rested for thirty minutes. We'll leave soon."

"No, we'll leave now. I'm not afraid of you, Shadow. I'll go myself; you can stay here if you're tired."

Shadow's eyes seemed to light with a fire and he turned ferociously on the small fox, "Don't test my limits."

Tails shrunk back a little at the anger in the black hedgehog's voice, but then Shadow turned from him and started off down the hill again. Tails cautiously followed him into the night and so fox and hedgehog continued their search. Tails kept a wary eye on Shadow, hoping he hadn't pushed him too far, but Shadow seemed to pay him no mind, probably trying to control his temper and keep himself from hurting the fox.

After a few more miles of walking, Tails, to his dismay, started to feel weak again. Shadow wouldn't be happy about this and he probably wouldn't stop to let the fox rest this time either. Tails would have to keep going or lose the mysterious hedgehog and his chance to find Breeze no matter how much it hurt or how tired and beaten he became. He kept walking even though his muscles were burning and his head was swimming with dizziness. His eye sight became blurry, but he kept his legs moving almost automatically, not thinking but simply moving as if by instinct. Each minute he thought he couldn't take another step, but somehow did. He soon lost sight of everything, including Shadow, as sweat poured down his face and dirt and grime collected all over his body. He blindly walked forward with the only thought in his mind being to catch up to Shadow so he could rescue Breeze.

At last he felt like he couldn't go on and he could push his body no further. Shadow was no where to be seen and Tails had no more hope of moving forward even though his whole being screamed at him to never give up. He wasn't as strong as Sonic, Knuckles, or Shadow. His body couldn't take that much pain and pressure. He just hoped his heart would be strong enough when the time came when he needed it the most.

The two tailed fox finally stumbled and felt himself fall forward. He expected to feel the hard grit of cold sand, but the impact never came. Instead of hitting the ground he felt himself hitting soft but strong arms as they prevented his fall. He could barely open his eyes, but caught a flash of black and red before they closed shut. He felt himself lifted off the ground and cradled in the arms as they began to move forward again. Tails relaxed and fell asleep, knowing he was safe with someone that, for now, he could trust; someone who felt just like he did about Breeze.

Shadow trudged on into the night, carrying the beaten and tired Tails in his arms. As the fox fell asleep, Shadow tried to figure out what was happening to him. Why was he helping the fox? Especially when he was in sort of a competition for Breeze's attention with Tails. It must be because Maria would want it that way; because Breeze would want it that way.

Two metal robots walked in the desert under the bright and shinning moon. They could be heard miles away grumbling and complaining about their lot in life. Their joints were creaking and groaning as well as their over active big mouths.

"This is pointless," said Decoe.

"I agree," Bocoe replied.

"Why do we always have to do everything? Why can't Bokkun look for her? He can fly after all can't he?"

"Yes, but he is a big baby and the Doctor's favorite. We never get good treatment."

"My joints are about to fall off and I'm full of sand. It will take hours to suck it all out."

"I feel like I'm made of sand. The Doctor will be sorry when he finds us in pieces out here in the desolate desert."

"Yeah, that will show him."

"Actually, that will show us!" Bocoe pointed out and both robots groaned.

"Hey, what is that," Decoe said excitedly and pointed at something on the horizon. They both looked to see a small figure sitting all alone on a rock and gazing at the stars.

"Let us go find out," Bocoe said determinedly and they both picked up the pace to go see who was sitting all alone in the desert. Upon reaching the person they saw it was a small light blue vixen in a blue skirt and top. She had her chin in her hands and she was watching the stars as if waiting to make a wish. She looked up when she heard them coming and then jumped in alarm when she realized who they were. She pulled out her bow and arrow set, getting ready to defend herself.

"Hold on, we are not going to hurt you," Decoe said quickly and held out his hands.

"That is right, we only want to ask you a question," Bocoe added.

She lowered her bow and looked at them cautiously, "Ok, what?"

"Are you Breeze?"

"Yes," she replied and raised her bow again.

"Oh, good, now we can go home," Bocoe said happily.

"Yes, let's, but first, just to get back at Dr. Eggman, I think we should tell her what he is up to."

Breeze looked at the two robots, completely bewildered. They weren't going to try and capture her? "Excuse me, but didn't Eggman send you to catch me?"

"No, he just said to find you," Bocoe said smugly.

"He should have been more specific if he wanted to treat us that badly," Decoe added.

"So what's he up to then?" Breeze asked.

"Oh, he is sending out a new robot made especially to capture you so be on the look out, ok?" Bocoe said.

"Ok, thanks."

"No problem, now we are going back so I suggest you get out of here fast. We have to tell Dr. Eggman were we saw you so if you leave now he won't catch you."

"You should get your Shadow friend to take you away," Decoe said.

"I wish I could find him, but I don't know where he is," Breeze said sadly.

"Oh…well we hope you find him. You really are nice," Bocoe comforted.

The two robots waved and walked off, heading towards Eggman's base. Breeze watched them go and then realized that she would soon be alone again once they left. She suddenly got a sinking feeling inside that if she didn't follow them she would never be found, even if they were the enemy! She stood in indecision, and then ran after them yelling, "Wait, stop! I'm coming with you!"

"Why? We are going to Dr. Eggman and he wants to capture you."

"Because if I follow you I will eventually get back to somewhere familiar, then I'll leave you once I know where I am."

"That is fine with us. Just hope that the Doctor does not see you with us or he will order us to bring you to him."

"That's a chance I'll take," Breeze said decidedly and the three of them started walking towards the forest and Eggman's base, the robots happy for the nice company and Breeze just happy that she wasn't alone anymore.

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**Hey eveyone, hope you are all doing well. Thanks for reading, you guys are my inspiration! Next chapter will come soon!**


	27. Chapter 27: Pulling Me Forward

**Chapter 27: **Pulling Me Forward

His rescuer dropped Knuckles on the ground with a thud and he grumbled about the rough landing as he stood up and dusted himself off. With flapping of wings, Rouge landed in front of him. She had, of course, been his rescuer which he had soon discovered after their quick flight out of Eggman's base.

"Why did you have to interfere? I had everything under control" Knuckles said, shaking his fists.

"Please, Knuckie, you and I both know that you're useless in the dark. If I hadn't saved you, you would have been nothing but a very flat echidna. Of course then I could have had the master emerald all to myself. I'm too nice sometimes," the sassy bat replied sarcastically.

"Well…I still would have been fine!" Knuckles insisted.

"Suite yourself. What were you doing there anyways? Looking for something shiny?" Rouge said hopefully and leaned closer to him.

"I was not! I was looking for Breeze. If you didn't know, Eggman did something with her, Tails, and Shadow."

"Oh, I knew. I've been following you for sometime now."

"Then why would you ask me a stupid question about looking for gems when you already knew the answer?"

"Because gems are always on my mind."

"You're impossible," Knuckles said exasperated. "Well, one thing's for sure, Eggman doesn't have Breeze. I wonder where she is."

"You want me to help you look?"

"No!...well I guess you could, but try to keep up. I'm going to go find Sonic first."

"Alright," Rouge said. She hoped that maybe if she helped him out he'd give in to her charm and give her a chaos emerald. She knew he had two of them with him.

They were about to start looking when a plane flew over their heads. It was pink and carried a pink hedgehog waving a hammer like a maniac.

"Look, there's Amy. Let's call them down," Knuckles suggested.

"I'm on it," Rouge replied and leaped into the air after the plane. She landed on it right in front of Amy.

"Well, well, sugar, what's going on?" she said seductively.

"What are you doing here?" Amy asked in return.

"Knuckles is down below. He wants to talk."

"Oh, ok then," Amy agreed and tapped on the glass of the cockpit. "Hey, Chris, Knuckles wants to talk with us. He's down there."

"Alright, coming in for a landing," Chris replied.

"Nice ship there, honey," Rouge teased.

Chris blushed, now he'd have to land this pink thing right in front of Knuckles!

The ship soon came to a halt on the ground and Knuckles walked up to it. He grinned a little when he saw Chris climb out of the bright pink plane. This must have been Amy's idea.

"Hey, Chris, I didn't know pink was your color," the red echidna chuckled.

"Oh shut it, I've heard enough jokes," Chris said unhappily. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I attacked Eggman's base and he didn't have Breeze. I don't know what happened. I guess I should have made Eggman or Bokkun tell me…but I got into a little trouble."

"A little! Ha!" Rouge sneered.

"Shut up, bat."

Chris looked at the arguing couple and sighed, and then something dawned on him. Why was Rouge here? "Hey, Rouge? What are you doing here? I thought you were working for Eggman."

"I don't work for anybody, and besides, if Shadow can leave, why can't I?" the bat said twirling around in the air.

"That's not the point, Chris. The point right now is where Breeze is if Eggman doesn't have her?" Amy said.

"Maybe they ran away," Cream added from behind them.

"No, Shadow wouldn't just leave the chaos emeralds behind like that," Chris said.

"Hey! Maybe if Knuckie shows us the chaos emeralds we might find a clue," Rouge suggested, looking out of the corner of her eye at Knuckles.

"That wouldn't do any good, besides you just want me to show 'em to you so you can grab them," Knuckles contradicted.

"Fine, guess I won't be coming up with anymore bright ideas," Rouge pouted.

"Let's just keep looking around. There's nothing else we can do," Chris sighed and headed back towards Amy's ship.

Amy threw Knuckles and Rouge a com link so they could keep in contact with each other. "You guys go look that way and we'll look this way. Call if you find anything. Come on, Cream, let's go!"

Cream followed anxiously. She wondered why it seemed like they were always trying to find Breeze. It was as if she was always getting lost.

"I sure hope we find her soon, don't you, Cheese?" She asked her chao friend for reassurance.

"Chao,chao!" Cheese said with a determined look.

Sonic sped around the world again. He felt as though he had looked everywhere, where could his friends be? He stood on the very highest peak in a large sandy desert and surveyed the landscape. He was thinking, but he couldn't figure it out, it was all so strange. Eventually he gave up and sped back towards the forest, hoping to find out some more information there. Once he arrived he noticed smoke in the distance and immediately raced over to it to see what was causing it. He pinpointed the location and found a broken up secret base.

"This must be Eggman's base. What happened here? Looks like the work of Knuckles," he murmured to himself and then heard voices coming from inside the base. Sonic quickly got a little closer so he could hear and observe what was going on. He found Eggman, still at the base with Bokkun, and they were vigorously working on something. It looked like a giant robot and they appeared to be repairing its foot. Sonic was about to jump down in front of them and announce his presence like he usually did, but their conversation stopped him. They were talking about Breeze and he decided that if he stayed quiet and listened he might find out more information than if he forced it out of them. He hid himself in the air ducts above where Eggman was working and settled down to listen.

"Stupid echidna, always wrecking my machines but never giving me a chance to wreck him!" Eggman was complaining.

"Doctor, instead of grumbling about Knuckles you should be working on fixing this robot so you can send it out to find Breeze," Bokkun scolded.

"Who asked for your opinion anyways," Eggman snapped back. "I'm almost done so just hold on."

Eggman finished tightening a bolt and then sat back and surveyed his work. "There, good as new! Eggseeker, awaken!"

The robot slowly turned itself on and rose to its feet. It tested its newly repaired leg and then stood at attention before the Doctor. It was very large, and had even larger ear type devices on its head so it could pick up sonar and echolocation signals to see in the dark with. For hands the machine had two large claws that were padded and made perfectly for catching something and then transporting it back. Sonic also noticed that the machine seemed to be built for speed, which made since if it was going to capture things that moved.

Dr. Eggman surveyed his machine and smiled to himself, "Perfect, now go and find that little blue vixen and bring her to me unharmed." The Eggseeker acknowledged and sprinted away.

Sonic had seen and heard enough. He thought about going ahead and surprising Eggman now that he knew what the Doctor was up too, but then decided that he should find his friends as fast as he could before the robot did.

"It shouldn't be a problem. I'm the fastest thing around," he chuckled to himself and sped away in a blue blur.

Breeze sighed a long and irritated sigh. The two robots she was traveling with wouldn't shut up and it was beginning to get on her nerves. She tried to be nice, she tried to listen and take everything they said into account, but she was almost to the point where she didn't think she could take it anymore.

Bocoe and Decoe clanked along, talking about how rotten their lives were and about how Bokkun was spoiled. As they walked they shifted and kicked up sand, not paying any particular care to how messy and noisy they were. Breeze was almost the same color as the sand with all of it that had gotten in her fur from the robot's careless walking.

"I always do exactly what the Doctor wants and he never even congratulates me," Bocoe was complaining.

"Yes, and then he goes and tells Bokkun what great ideas he has!" Decoe agreed.

"You know, Breeze, you may have lost you family and all, but you certainly have not suffered as we have," Bocoe said.

"I'm sure I haven't," Breeze said absent mindedly. She wasn't paying much attention to the rambling robots anymore, there was something else bothering her. It was sort of a tugging feeling…like something invisible was gently pulling her off towards the faraway mountains in the distant sand. She knew she needed to find Shadow and Tails and she knew that following the robots back to the forest would be the best way to start, it was just that the feeling was pulling her a different way.

She tried to shrug it off and keep following the robots, but the farther they walked the worse it got until she finally couldn't take it anymore. She had to go in the direction the strange force was pulling her towards.

"Hey, guys, it's been great talking to you, but I've got to leave you now," she said stopping.

"What? Leaving? Are you sure? It could be dangerous by yourself," Decoe said.

"Yeah, and I thought you wanted to go to the forest with us. We promise we won't tell Dr. Eggman you were with us," Bocoe pleaded.

"No, I can't come anymore. Something is telling me I need to go that way," she replied pointing towards the sun that was slowly rising. They had been walking all night, but Breeze hadn't minded because the robots were slow and she had had plenty of rest sitting on that rock when they first found her.

"How do you know it is a good force? What if it is Eggman drawing you in?" Bocoe pointed out.

"It doesn't feel bad; it feels like a part of me. I can't explain it…I just have to go," she replied and started walking off towards the pull.

"It's almost morning, won't you get tired!" one of the robots shouted after her.

She turned around and waved goodbye as she said, "No, I'll be fine! I think I have enough energy to make it!"

"Alright, goodbye then. Do not worry, we will not tell Dr. Eggman where you are, just that we found you!"

"Thanks," she yelled back across the distance and then turned back and continued on her way. She felt alive and full of energy as if the force pulling her was giving her new life. She felt important and walked on with a bounce in her step. She felt like she was finally getting somewhere after all her traveling and getting lost.

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**Thanks again to all you awesome reviewers! I appreciate the support and I love the feedback! :)**


	28. Chapter 28: Red Chaos

**Chapter 28:** Red Chaos

The sun slowly started to rise and Rouge frowned at its welcoming rays. Being a bat she preferred the night, but she supposed the sun had to rise so that everything could remain living. Otherwise, the world would be dry and bleak except for an occasional gem shining in the darkness…it was happening again! Why did she always have to think about gems! Everything she thought or said related to jewelry in some way. She glanced at Knuckles walking ahead of her, lost in his own thoughts. Even he reminded her of a big red ruby, just waiting to be snatched. She shook her head, that's just the way she was and she did _love_ treasure!

"Do you have any idea where we're going?" she said aloud to his back.

"If you don't like it then leave," was his short response.

Rouge huffed and crossed her arms, still following the stubborn echidna. She glanced around and wondered if he really did want her to leave or if he was just being like that because it was his nature. She would never know with him. He was so unpredictable, just like Shadow.

Something shuffled in the bushes to one side and Rouge's keen ears picked it up. She looked at Knuckles to see if he had heard anything, but he was too bent on moving forward he must have blocked all other distractions out of his head. The shuffling started up again and this time louder. Whatever was making the noise sounded really big and she thought she should tell Knuckles just in case it was dangerous.

She caught up to him with a swift beat of her wings and tapped his shoulder. He swung around and glared at her, "What? Can't you bug someone else?"

"There's something on the other side of those bushes and it sounds dangerous," she said, pointing.

Knuckles sighed, but then listened and heard the noises too. He tensed up and crept slowly towards the sound. "Stay here," he warned and pushed her gently back with a fist as Rouge tried to follow him. He got closer and closer until he was just a few feet from the noise maker. Crouching low, he leapt forward and dealt a swift punch to whatever was on the other side of the brush.

"Owwww! That hurt!" a voice cried out and Knuckles gaped in amazement as he watched a gigantic purple striped cat rub his head where he had been hit by the echidna.

"Big! What are you doing here?" Knuckles asked, frustrated that he had wasted all that effort on Big the cat. This guy had to be one of the slowest and dumbest creatures on the planet; he was far from dangerous.

"Knuckie, how about apologizing instead of getting all offensive. After all, you weren't the one who got clobbered on the head," Rouge said coming up to Big and asking to see where he was hurt.

"What! This was your idea! You were the one who said he might be something dangerous!" Knuckles accused.

"Nonsense, I merely pointed out that he _might_ be dangerous, not that he was," she replied and then kissed Big's head. "There, there, now. Are you okay? Did that big mean echidna hurt you?" she babied.

"I think I'll be okay, it was my fault anyways, I shouldn't have been so noisy waking up this morning," Big said in his slow voice.

"Well it's lucky you have a hard head."

Knuckles fumed at how he was being treated. This was why he worked alone, no one could criticize him. Now Rouge was sucking up to that big fathead when he had been trying to protect her. He was about to protest when something slimy and heavy landed on his head.

"Whoa!" he yelled and flung it off. The object went flying forward and landed nice and soft on Big's large stomach. It gave him a hurt look and croaked at him.

"Froggy! There you are," Big exclaimed and picked up his friend.

"Ribbit," Froggy said.

"There you go again, Knucklehead. Freaking out over a frog," Rouge criticized.

"I am not freaking out! That's it, I've had it. You can go look for Breeze with your new friends, I'm leaving."

"Not so fast, boy, Big might be able to tell us something. Big, have you seen Shadow, Tails, or a blue vixen that looks like Tails?"

"No…I don't really know who they are…but I did see something shiny over by the lake," Big replied scratching his head. "I tried to get it but it was too high up."

"Tails is a fox and he has two…wait a minute, did you say you saw something shiny?" Rouge said eagerly.

"Yeah, really shiny."

"Could you show us where it is? I'm sure I could get it down."

"Rouge, this is about Breeze and Tails, why are we going to look for something shiny this guy saw in a tree?" Knuckles asked impatiently.

"Because it might be a chaos emerald."

"Oh…I never though of that. Okay, Big, lead the way."

"Okie dokie, it's this way," the cat said and started off towards the lake. Rouge and Knuckles followed closely and they soon reached a very large tree with a knothole in the trunk.

"Here it is," Big said.

Rouge studied the tree and soon saw what Big had been talking about. There was something shining a bright red color up in the knothole. "Aha!" she said and prepared to fly up into the tree and retrieve it when Knuckles grabbed her wrist.

"Wait a minute," he said.

She wrenched her wrist from his hand and flapped into the air. "I'm not going to steal it if that's what you're worried about." She flew right up to the hole and grabbed the sparkling red gem from the tree, admiring it as it dazzled in the sun while she hovered above Knuckles and Big. She looked down at Knuckles, who appeared tense, and then sighed as she allowed herself to float down and land in front of him.

"Here you go," she said and placed it in his hands. It was, in fact, a chaos emerald and he stared at her in shock that she would simply hand it over without a fight.

She smiled and turned saying, "Thanks for your help, Big, we should be going now."

"Rouge, wait," Knuckles called to her and she turned back.

"What? Surprised that I can be decent at times?"

"No, I just wanted to say that um…I didn't hold you back because I thought you were going to steal the emerald, I though that it might be a trap set up by Eggman and I didn't want you to get hurt. Here, why don't you hold onto it," he said and tossed the red gem into her hands.

She caught it, surprised at first, and then smiled again, "I'd love to, Knuckie."

Big waved and turned towards the lake with Froggy while Knuckles and Rouge walked away, continuing on with their quest. "Come on, Froggy, let's go fishing."

"Ribbit, ribbit."

"I think I'm getting closer, I can feel it!" Breeze said aloud as she walked on. Her strength was ebbing after the vigorous trudge through the desert with no food and water, but she couldn't give up yet. The invisible force that had been pulling her forward seemed to finally be coming to a stop, which could only mean that she was finally approaching her destination, be it friend or foe.

Her heart beat fast in anticipation as she climbed one more sandy hill and stopped at the top to catch her breath, then she saw them, two black dots in the distance heading her way. The tugging force was pulling her towards them and she suddenly recognized just who they were.

"Tails! Shadow! Over here! I found you guys!" she yelled to them happily and skipped down the hill. She saw them stop and then heard them shout something to her as they started forward again but this time faster. One was flying through the air while the other propelled himself forward on skates.

She got closer to them and she couldn't remember a time when she had been happier. It seemed like forever, but the distance was being crossed quickly…and then she fell, face forward into the rough sand. Exhaustion took over as the world went black and the energy giving pull disappeared. The last thing she saw before enveloped in blackness was two sets of shoes stopping in front of her and hands outstretched to lift her up.


	29. Chapter 29: Conversation and Reunion

**Chapter 29:** Conversation and Reunion

Tails slowly blinked his eyes as he woke after what seemed a long time of darkness. He felt like he was in motion, and the last thing he remembered before he had passed out was worrying about how Shadow would react to his foolish insistence that they keep looking for Breeze even though it was clear that the fox could not go on without resting.

He saw the bright light of the sun and realized that it was morning. The second thing he realized was that he was being carried, and with amazement and quite an amount of fright he realized who was carrying him! The strong black arms of Shadow held him firmly as the hedgehog walked forward; the motion he felt earlier explained. Tails still felt a little dizzy, but he decided he could continue on his own and let the hedgehog know he was awake. It was just a little scary being so close to the ultimate life form. It felt in a way sort of relaxing and calm, but at the same time it gave Tails a tense feeling like he should be ready to protect himself if anything happened.

He had decided to tell Shadow that he could walk himself, but couldn't quite figure out how he should do it. He guessed just asking Shadow to stop wouldn't get him in too much trouble. He started to say something but his problem was suddenly solved when Shadow abruptly stopped and put the fox down. Tails looked up at his frowning face and tried to smile. Shadow was a tough character to get along with.

"Thanks for not leaving me behind, Shadow. I know what I did was dumb and probably got on your nerves but I'm really worried about Breeze and I can't just sit around and do nothing while she's in danger," Tails offered, still nervous under the hedgehog's fierce glare.

Shadow shrugged and then started walking again. "Well I hope you learned your lesson," was all he said.

Tails stood in the sand for awhile to think over what had happened. He still wondered why Shadow had even put forth the effort of saving him. It would have been easier to just leave Tails in the desert to die, make up some story about his death to everyone else, and have Breeze all to himself. The thing was he hadn't done that. He had carried Tails across the unforgiving desert until the fox could walk on his own again. Maybe there was something more to the black hedgehog. Breeze had apparently seen it because she had forgiven him despite all the pain he had caused her…of course Breeze would probably forgive anybody, but that wasn't the point.

"Are you coming?" Shadow called to Tails when he saw that the fox had not been following him.

Tails nodded, shaken from his thoughts and trotted up to Shadow. The two began walking in silence again and Tails decided that he might ask some questions since he had Shadow all to himself out in the sandy desert. The problem was if Shadow would actually answer those questions.

After a few seconds of thinking about what he should say, Tails asked, "Um…Shadow? Could I talk to you about Breeze?"

Shadow looked a little uncomfortable, but he nodded in agreement.

"About her talent for finding things, how did you know about it?"

"Eggman told me."

"Did you like test it out to see if he was right?"

"I didn't have to. I could tell just by being near her."

Tails pondered this. "So do you know how it works?"

"No, but I think she is automatically pulled towards what she really wants to find. You should ask her yourself."

"I wonder how she finds out about how others are feeling. She couldn't be "pulled" towards that in the same way as she is towards an object. She figured out that I'm scared of thunderstorms and I didn't even tell her. She even knew exactly how to make me feel better," Tails said as if thinking out loud. He noticed Shadow's expression change and saw him flinching off of the subject as if he wanted to be alone with something Tails had given him to think about.

Tails thought he might finally be getting somewhere with the hedgehog and he walked up a little closer to him and continued. "She knew what to say to me when I was freaking out about Cosmo, too. I think that's why she gets along with people so well, she understands them and why they hurt inside. Maybe that's why she is close to you and nobody else is. You never open up to others but she doesn't need you too. She can tell how you feel without you even saying anything," the fox suggested and looked to see how Shadow would react.

"Why are you all of the sudden so into how her talent works? Just drop it, okay?" Shadow said darkly. His face was troubled and his fists were clenched.

"Alright, I just wanted to know how she made you feel…I guess I just wanted to talk to you too. I don't know much about you," Tails said with a hint of disappointment. They walked in silence a few minutes more and Tails stared down at the sand, wishing Breeze were there with them. She could brighten things a little and talk to him, holding his hand while they followed the silent Shadow through the desert. Tails also wished he could trust Shadow like Breeze could. It would make things a lot easier.

Shadow hadn't liked what Tails was getting at. The fox wanted to talk about how they felt about Breeze, but Shadow wasn't sure he wanted to share that information with Tails. He decided to drop the thought and just focus on what was ahead, but he kept thinking about how he and Tails had so much in common because of Breeze. Maybe it would help to talk about her. He hesitated and watched Tails walking next to him with his head down. This was going to be really weird, but he couldn't stop from saying something that he definitely would not have ever said unless he was in a situation like this one.

"Breeze can tell how I feel…I don't know how she does it, but she knows the right things to say to me and makes me feel a little better about myself," he pushed out with some effort. Talking to someone about things close to his heart was never something he could do easily except for with Maria and maybe Breeze.

Tails looked up immediately, excited that Shadow was talking to him, and pushed the conversation forward. "Yes, she does the same for me. That's probably why I didn't end up killing myself over Cosmo. She just made me want to live again."

Shadow nodded, he thought maybe he could actually do this. "I left Eggman when she forgave me for everything I'd done and I hadn't even said I was sorry. She knew I needed forgiveness; it's just that I was too stubborn to ever ask for it. I didn't ever want to be parted from her because she cared about me and how I felt."

They paused for awhile, thinking about what each other had said and then Tails admitted, "I didn't like you much when I saw you with Breeze. I felt like she had abandoned me and turned to you, but then when she gave me Cosmo back I realized she has room in her heart for both of us. I'm sorry, Shadow. If Breeze likes you so much, you must not be that terrible of a person."

Shadow looked at the smiling fox who was sincerely offering an apology to him. Shadow nodded in acceptance, a warming feeling inside welling up. He was glad he had had this little talk with Tails especially since he hadn't really known the fox before except that he was Sonic's sidekick and was smart enough to build an entire spaceship in about a week.

"Let's just hope we find her soon," Shadow added to his nod.

"Definitely," Tails replied.

The two kept going, feeling better about things and thinking about what had been said, when a light breeze suddenly blew through the still desert air. Tails breathed in and sighed happily closing his eyes as the small wind passed by his face. The breeze felt cool and refreshing after the sticky hotness and he hoped it didn't die away too soon. Shadow felt the same way and paused for a little to enjoy it and feel it blowing in his spines.

It felt so nice, that Tails thought he could hear a voice floating in it, calling his name. He heard Shadow's name too and wondered if the hedgehog could hear it too.

"Shadow, do you hear that?" he asked with his eyes still closed.

The voice came again, but for some reason it sounded a lot more real and a lot closer. Tails' eyes snapped open and he looked wildly up at the top of a hill where he could see a small figure waving and calling in the bright sun. He knew exactly who it was and his heart nearly leaped out of his chest with joy.

"Breeze! Breeze!" Tails shouted happily started at top speed towards her as she ran down the hill towards them. A grin lit up Shadow's face at once and he too sped forward using his skates to keep up with the flying fox.

It seemed like forever that they ran forward to meet each other, and then Breeze fell, face forward into the sand before she could reach them. Tails panicked when he saw her laying there and when they finally reached her they saw her eyes slowly blink shut and her head drop into the sand.

"Breeze, Breeze can you hear me? Oh, please be okay! She's gonna be okay right, Shadow?" Tails said anxiously as the hedgehog bent and picked her up off the ground.

"She's just exhausted, Tails, but she should be okay. Let's make it to those mountains we were heading for and find some shade. Maybe we can find her some water," Shadow said patiently and started off towards the dark mountain cliffs with a brisk pace. He held Breeze safely in his arms and her head lay tucked between his arm and chest. She moaned a little and then finally settled snugly there with her tail wrapped around her body.

Tails followed closely, keeping an eye on her and bubbling with happiness even though it looked like Shadow was going to push him pretty hard to get to the mountains quickly. "She found us didn't she, Shadow?" he said happily, almost to himself, but Shadow heard.

"Yes, she sure did. Now let's hurry as fast as we can," he said and crouched forward pushing off with his shoes and moving almost as fast as Sonic. Tails spun his twin tails vigorously and just managed to keep up with the fast hedgehog who held Breeze in his arms. He just hoped they made it in time and that Breeze really would be okay.

* * *

**Hey again, this time I have a question for any of my readers. As you can see I don't have a profile picture on fanfiction. Can any of you draw well? I'm not very good at all, but I would like to have a picture of Breeze for my profile. So if anyone would like to draw a picture of what they think she looks like and send it to me that would be awesome! Just let me know and I'll give you my email so you can like scan it and email it to me. I'll accept anything and as many as I'm sent. Thank You! If no one can send me one then I'll try my best to draw my own, but thanks again!**


	30. Chapter 30: Cave Water

**Chapter 30:** Cave Water

Sonic blasted through the trees again, letting out his frustration by watching as the fierce wind from his fast running caused them to loose leaves. This search was really getting ridiculous. He felt like he had seen the entire planet! He had found Knuckles and Rouge numerous times, stumbled into Big at the lake, seen Amy with Chris and Cream, and nearly crashed into Bocoe and Decoe. The only ones he hadn't seen today were the ones he was trying to find; Tails, Breeze, and Shadow. He assumed they must be together because if they were separated he should have at least run into one of them by now. He was getting worried about Eggman. Though Sonic was the fastest thing alive, Eggman's robot could detect anything for miles around with its sonar abilities. The robot just might find his friends before he did.

Sonic ran off again in a different direction, but skidded to a halt when he saw three odd characters that he knew all to well; the green crocodile, purple chameleon and striped bee looked like they were wandering aimlessly through the forest. Sonic wondered if they were lost and called out to them.

"Hey, Vector! What are you clowns doing out here?"

Vector whipped around and saw Sonic waving to them. "Who are you calling clowns you blue freak!" he yelled back as Charmy and Espio chuckled behind him. Sonic laughed as well and they waited as he ran up to talk with them.

"You guys lost?" Sonic asked.

"Nah, we're looking for Breeze but we've kind of given up hope," Vector replied.

"Yeah, we're not very fast and there's lots of places to look," Charmy added.

"Believe me, I've looked every where," Sonic said. "But I'll never give up! Hey, could you guys just pick a random place for me to look and then I'll just start from there. I'm all out of ideas."

"How about the desert? We haven't been there," Charmy suggested.

"We haven't been a lot of places, Charmy," Espio said.

"I've looked all over that place…but I guess I'll try again. Thanks guys!" Sonic said and rushed off again.

"He never sticks around long enough to chat," Vector complained.

"Who'd want to chat with you?" Charmy teased.

"Let's just continue the mission," Espio pointed out.

After leaving the Chaotix, Sonic reached the desert. It was big and wide like most deserts were, but he had already been across it and back searching for his lost friends. He stood for awhile and thought, which was something he didn't like to do much. It was so much better to just run with the wind and go with your feelings, but he felt that thought might be helpful in this situation

"Let's see," he said aloud. "If I was a fox…or Shadow…where would I go in a desert? Hmmmm…if I was anybody in a desert where would I go? Shade and water! I'll go look in those mountains again."

Sonic dashed off towards the mountains, hoping maybe this time he would accomplish his goal.

***

"There may be shade and this may be a mountain, but I don't see any water anywhere," Tails complained as he stood next to Shadow once they had reached the mountains and started climbing.

"We should probably find somewhere to rest, and then I'll go searching," Shadow said. He was still carrying Breeze, and though she weighed nothing to his strong arms, he was worried all the motion might make her sick. They needed to find a safe place to put her down so he could go look without having to worry about the two foxes.

"I know! I can fly us up to a cave on the side of the cliffs. That way nothing can get to us," Tails suggested and pointed at the many cracks along the sheer cliff faces they were walking beneath.

"Alright, but go up there and make sure they're empty first," Shadow told him.

"That one looks small enough that nothing would live in it and big enough for us. I'll go check it out. Wait here." Tails spun his tails and ascended up to the cliff face. He landed at the opening of the small cave and poked his head in, listening with his sensitive ears for any sounds. It sounded quiet so he crept in and nodded, satisfied that the cave only stretched a few feet back. There were no signs of life and it was a perfect place to shade them from the sun's relentless rays.

"It's perfect," he told Shadow when he came back down.

Shadow nodded and then carefully deposited the unconscious Breeze into Tails' arms. "Go up there with her and wait for me. I'll be back soon," he said. Tails nodded and held tightly to the blue vixen as he spun his tails again and flew up to the cave. After affirming that the two were safely up, Shadow turned and set out to search for water through the mountains, using his skates to move at even greater speeds.

Tails landed in the small cave and put Breeze carefully down in the back, farthest from the sun. She looked smaller than he remembered, probably from the loss of strength, but he was just happy to know she was safe with them again. He sat down next to her and put her head on his lap so she could have a pillow. He leaned back against the coolness of the cave wall and closed his eyes, more content than he had been in a while. Thinking back to the last time he had been in a cave with Cosmo, he remembered how there was lots of water in it where the Metarex were making the fake chaos emeralds.

He put a hand on the cave wall he was leaning against and wondered if it felt cool for a reason. To test his theory he picked up a small rock on the floor next to him and hit it against the cave wall. Nothing happened. He repeated this a few times and finally, to his amazement, small trickles of water began to seep out of a small hole he had made on the surface of the wall. He put his hands up to it excitedly and soon had a small pool of water cupped there, just enough for a mouthful. He wished he had a bowl, but sprinkled it on Breeze's face anyways, trying to cool her down a little and hoping she would wake up to drink some.

Breeze flinched and her face twitched at the cool drops that Tails had carefully let fall into her fur. She moaned and rolled over, hiding her face in his fur to escape the water.

"Come on, Breeze, wake up," Tails urged and sprinkled her some more.

"I don't wanna," he heard her mumble and she rolled over again. Then her eyes shot open and she sat up with a start, confused at first, and looked around to see Tails' beaming face behind her.

"Breeze! You're awake!"

"Tails…," she said in wonder and then a big smile crossed her face and she suddenly hugged the orange-yellow fox close. "I'm so glad I found you!"

"Yeah, me too. Shadow and I were really worried! We thought Eggman might have taken you," Tails said.

She broke the hug and smiled at him, then looked around. "I saw Eggman's robots while I was out there, but I left them when I felt this strange force pulling me towards you guys. They said they wouldn't tell him where I was. They were really nice, even if they did complain and talk too much!"

"Yeah, I've had lots of experience with those two. They were looking for you?"

"They said Eggman sent them. He has a new robot he's using to find me…Tails, why does Eggman want me?"

"Shadow said you have a power. You can find anything you want to anywhere in the world. Eggman wants to use that power to get you to find the chaos emeralds."

"Oh…that explains that pulling feeling. I've always wondered why I could find things so easily," Breeze said thinking about it.

"Yeah, it's really cool. You should work on tuning it so you can do even more stuff with it like finding answers to questions and finding out if people are lying and stuff like that!"

Breeze chuckled at his enthusiasm. "You seem really excited about it. Promise you'll help me out okay?"

"Sure," he said.

"Thanks, Tails, you mean a lot to me," she said softly.

He blushed and said, "So do you," while taking her hand and holding it in his.

She smiled again at his blush and then blushed too. They enjoyed the little awkward silence that occurred after that, looking into each others eyes while holding hands, until Breeze broke it saying, "Maybe we should move it's getting really wet."

Tails looked at the puddle of water that was slowly forming around them from the crack in the wall he had made. "Oops! Yeah, let's move closer to the front."

The two foxes stood up, Breeze a little shakily but she had Tails to lean on, and moved out of the way of the water. They cupped their hands and drank some of it, but it was hard to get enough out of the small hole. Finally they sat at the edge of the cave and dangled their feet over the side, looking at the beautiful landscape the mountains provided.

"Hey, Tails, where's Shadow? I know I saw him when I found you guys in the desert."

"Oh, he went to go find water."

"I hope he comes back soon. He'll be surprised that you found water here!" Breeze giggled.

"Yeah, why don't you get some rest? I'll wake you when he get's back."

"Okay, thanks. Mind if I lean on you? You're much softer than a stone wall," Breeze said slyly.

"I don't mind," Tails replied and she happily curled up against his side and rested her head on him. She sighed once and fell right to sleep against him. Tails smiled, put a comforting arm around her, and watched the lazy afternoon sun shine in the canyons and cliffs around them. He knew they needed to get back, but a part of him whished they could stay like this forever. These sweet little moments he shared with the blue vixen always warmed him up inside and gave him a fuzzy feeling and he found himself also whishing that maybe they could be something a little more. That was silly! They were in a life or death situation right now and all he could think about was fuzzy feelings! _Snap out of it, Tails, and think of something useful, he thought to himself. _His blue eyes stared back out at the sun, and he found himself smiling again, _Oh well, I just can't help it when I'm around her! _


	31. Chapter 31: He's Back Again

**Chapter 31:** He's Back Again

Shadow stood on the cliff face in frustration. It was hard for him to contain emotions and right now he felt like punching through a wall. This whole situation was getting extremely tedious and he just wished he could get his two charges somewhere safe so he could go off and do what he wanted. Not that he didn't enjoy Breeze's company; it was just that he worried about her when she wasn't somewhere where he knew nothing could happen to her. He basically worried about her all the time.

He hadn't found any water and was standing on the edge of a mountain letting his frustration ebb out in waves. He soon decided to go on back to the foxes and tell them the bad news. At least they got to rest a little. He turned away from the edge and walked a few feet before he had to brace himself as a violent wind rushed passed. Shadow grimaced at the thought of seeing Sonic again even though he could help them as he waited for the gust to turn back around and reveal the blue hedgehog that created it.

As he though, after about a second Sonic came racing back with an overjoyed look on his face. Shadow was a little worried. Since when was Sonic ever so happy to see him?

"Hey, Shadow! I've never been so happy to see your face!" the speedy hedgehog announced and slapped Shadow on the back in a friendly gesture.

"What took you so long to find us?" was Shadow's curt reply.

"Hey…I'm a little guy and this is a big world, but I knew I'd find you guys…you do know where Breeze and Tails are right?" Sonic said anxiously.

"Yes, I left them in a cave while I went to look for water," the black hedgehog sighed.

"Great, you'll have to tell me the story later. Can you take me to 'em?"

"Why not? Follow me," Shadow said and took off down the mountain with Sonic following behind.

The hedgehogs soon arrived at the small cave Tails had picked out and found the foxes asleep. Sonic quietly walked over to his friends and shook Tails awake saying, "Hey there, Buddy."

"What…who…Sonic? Is that you?" Tails groaned as he woke.

"Sure is. I'm gonna get you guys out of here."

"We found Breeze, Sonic. Everything's going to be okay now," Tails said, smiling.

"You bet."

"Sonic, is that you!" Breeze exclaimed when her eyes opened a short time afterward to see the blue hero bending over them.

"Hey, Breeze, how's it going?"

"Great, now that you're here! How'd you find us?" Breeze said hugging him tightly.

"I just ran…and then I saw Shadow and he brought me here."

Breeze looked up at the black hedgehog who stood a little ways back and smiled at him. His expression didn't change, bit she could feel he was happy to see her.

"Come on, let's get out of here. I bet you guys would like some good food at Vanilla's house," Sonic said.

"Oh yes! Let's go," Breeze replied and laughed when Sonic picked her up and swung her around. Tails laughed too and stood up, shaky at first but then with more confidence.

"Did you bring a chaos emerald?" was Shadow's darkening comment.

"Ummmm…was I supposed too?" Sonic said looking at him.

"How else am I supposed to transport us out of here?"

"Oops, Knuckles has them," Sonic admitted.

"Well Knuckles isn't here, is he?" Shadow sighed and banged his fist onto the side of the rock wall.

"Chill out, Shadow. I know the way back. We'll just run…unless you don't think you can keep up with me."

"In your dreams. Fine let's not waste any more time," Shadow agreed.

"Great, we'll each take a fox. It doesn't matter to me which one I take so you can pick if you want."

Breeze looked at Shadow and could see that statement had made him uncomfortable. There was probably going to be a war over who picked and who didn't so she decided to speak up for him. After all, Tails would probably be more comfortable with Sonic since he knew him better and Breeze had traveled with Shadow before.

"Shadow can take me," she said happily.

Tails and Sonic frowned at the idea at once, but finally agreed since Tails felt like it would be too weird if Shadow was carrying him. Sonic picked up Tails, Breeze jumped into Shadow's arms, and they left the cave at tremendous speeds heading towards the forest and Vanilla's house.

They soon left the shadow of the mountains and the hot late afternoon sun beat down on Breeze's face once again. Shadow was moving pretty fast, but though he kept up with Sonic easily and didn't seem to be under any stress, she still felt that Sonic ran with more freedom and exhilaration. She didn't get that wonderful feeling of moving at great speeds that she did with Sonic while Shadow ran. Maybe it was because he ran with technology instead of pure raw talent and skill that Sonic had. It could also be because Shadow didn't seem to enjoy running like Sonic did. Shadow ran because it was necessary; Sonic ran because he loved running.

The four were almost clear of the desert in a short expanse of time and were ready to enter the forest when the ground started to shake underneath them. Sonic skidded to a stop and Shadow did the same next to him, jolting Breeze.

"What was that?" Breeze asked, worried.

"I don't know," Sonic replied.

The ground shook again and this time sand started to erupt in front of them into a giant mountain that broke at the top to reveal the glistening sides of a gigantic robot with circular looking ears and large claws. It surveyed the scene before it and then sent out a beacon of sound towards the four travelers.

"Ow! That noise is awful!" Breeze cried and tried to cover her ears against the piercing notes. Tails was in the same position, but because the hedgehog's ears were not as tuned as the fox's, Sonic and Shadow only grunted but were not in as much pain. Shadow set Breeze down next to where Sonic had left Tails.

"I suggest you two run while we fight this thing off," he said once the noise had stopped. Tails nodded and took Breeze's hand as Sonic and Shadow turned to face the Eggseeker.

Before the two could get anywhere, the Eggseeker opened up a door on the side of its body and out came Bocoe and Decoe. They looked at the victims with hands on their metallic hips and shook their heads. "I guess Breeze didn't get away before we told the Doctor we had seen her."

"Hey! I thought you said you wouldn't tell him where I was!" Breeze yelled at them while Tails tugged on her arm, trying to pull her away from danger.

"We didn't, he guessed and he had this nice seeking robot to help him," Decoe replied.

"Well it's not going to be doing any more seeking!" Sonic said. "Not when I'm done with it."

"Well, well if it isn't my blue friend. Oh, and Shadow came along too. What fun this is going to be. I'll squash the pest and the traitor in one blow," a sneering voice said as Eggman arrived in a hovering machine. Bokkun laughed from above where he circled over the Doctor's head.

"I will not let you succeed, Doctor. You will not harm Breeze or get those chaos emeralds," Shadow said and took a fighting position.

"What? What about the chaos emeralds?" Sonic asked confused.

"Oh? You don't know the whole story behind that, Shadow. You thing all I want is the chaos emeralds to power my machine…but you're wrong. There's even more than that and I need the blue vixen to find it!" Eggman said with a grin.

"Hey, what's going on!" Sonic said again.

"Attack and destroy all but the blue vixen. I want her alive!" the evil scientist said again.

The machine moved into action and Shadow was ready to repel it when Sonic, who had had enough of not knowing what was going on, leaped upward with all his might and landed on Eggman's ship, bringing it to the ground.

"All right, Eggy, I won't fight until I get an explanation," he said smugly standing on the downed hover craft.

Shadow grumbled but was interested in what else Eggman wanted Breeze to find. He let Sonic have his way and stood by. Breeze and Tails who stood frozen in the sand looked at Eggman and Sonic, wondering if Eggman would tell them what he _really_ wanted Breeze to do.

Eggman smiled up at Sonic and stepped down from his machine, holding a hand up to stop the Eggseeker and grinning slyly at Breeze. "Well, let's just start from the beginning."

Breeze moved closer to Tails and held onto his arm, shrinking from the evil stare that the Doctor was giving her and holding on to her two tailed friend tightly. Tails put a reassuring arm around her shoulders and glared back at Eggman, daring him to try something he would regret.

* * *

**I just have the feeling this chapter was a little sloppy and rushed, but I hope it's alright! Enjoy reading and review!**


	32. Chapter 32: Powerful Forces

**Chapter 32: **Powerful Forces

"The thing is, is that I need your little blue vixen friend to find me a very powerful source of energy. It's not as powerful as the chaos emeralds, but it has way more control and will suit my purposes better," Eggman said.

"Why do you need Breeze to find it? Look for it yourself," Sonic snapped back impatiently.

"Why? Oh my goodness, Sonic, you don't know about Breeze's little gift?" the Doctor teased and shook his head in mock pity. "Shame, shame."

"What? What are you talking about Doc? Did you guys know about this?" Sonic said asking Shadow, Tails, and Breeze.

"Yeah, Sonic, we know. Shadow just told us. At first Breeze didn't know it herself, but now she does," Tails explained. Breeze nodded from behind him, still to frightened to actually say anything and keeping fearful eyes locked on Eggman.

"So, what is it?"

"Breeze can find things," Tails answered.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What Tails means is that Breeze has the gift of finding, no matter where or what it is, whatever she's looking for. She can even find out how a person is feeling. It works on many levels," Shadow added. "So, Eggman, what is it besides the chaos emeralds you want to find?"

"Well, you all know about wind and breezes, right? There is a legend, that turns out to be real like most legends on this planet do, which says that this world is surrounded by a breeze that circles the entire globe. You can sometimes feel it when it reaches down to the earth. It gives you a feeling of connection with the rest of the world. This is because it _is_ connected with the rest of the world as it expands and touches everywhere. The problem is that actually finding and feeling this breeze is very rare because it shifts around so often in order to stay in contact with the whole world. It is also located normally at very high altitudes which make it impossible to reach from the ground…unless, like in the case I explained, it touches the ground," the Doctor explained.

"So you want Breeze to find a breeze? What for?" Sonic demanded of the very smug evil doctor.

"It just so happens that this breeze has, at its heart, the powerful energy I was talking about. Legends call this point of power the Breeze Heart. How else would it be able to move around the whole earth at a constant rate if it didn't have such an immense power supply? I must use the chaos emeralds to ignite the full potential power of the Breeze Heart and then with the combined power of both emeralds and heart I will finally be able to create my empire…and there's nothing you can do about it," Eggman ended with an extremely pleased grin on his face.

"Tell me why this sounds familiar," Sonic mumbled.

"Now I see…,"Shadow mused.

"Now, Eggseeker, get that vixen!" Eggman yelled and his robot lunged forward.

"Ahhhh," screamed Breeze as Tails pushed her aside and they tumbled in the sand out of the way of the robot. Sonic launched himself at the Eggseeker at the same time Shadow did, and the two began to pelt it with spin dash attacks.

"What are we gonna do!" Breeze yelled at Tails in fright.

"I don't know…I wish we could contact the others…that's it! Come on!" Tails said excitedly and ran towards Eggman's downed hovercraft that lay to one side on the sand. Eggman, Bocoe, Decoe, and Bokkun were busy watching the fight between hedgehogs and robot. They didn't notice Tails as he jumped up into the seat of the hover craft and started tinkering with the wires and mechanics.

"Tails! What are you doing?" Breeze asked, scrambling up behind him and casting worried glances in Eggman's direction.

"If I can change the frequency on this radio to signal the frequency I use in my ships, I might be able to contact anyone who's flying one right now! Let's just hope Chris or someone is out looking for us," Tails replied and clipped another wire. He fused two together and then turned the frequency dial on Eggman's ship.

"Hello, come in, over. This is Tails, over," he said anxiously into the microphone. Breeze moaned behind him and her tail lashed again in agitation and suspense as she leaned over Tails, hoping to hear a reply.

There was a faint buzzing sound and then through the static they heard a voice say, "Yeah, hello. This is Chris. Tails, is that really you!?"

"Yes it is! Hey, Chris, I've never been so glad to hear your voice! Where are you?"

"Flying around looking for you. How'd you get a radio?"

"No time to explain! Just get over to the desert, fast! You should see us, there's a big battle going on. You can't miss it! Bring everyone you can, we're going to need all the help we can get!" Tails said back quickly. Breeze exclaimed excitedly and Eggman looked over his shoulder at the noise.

"Eh? What are you two doing in my ship! Bokkun, I thought I told you to guard it!" Eggman yelled and rushed towards the hover craft.

"Oops," Breeze said.

"Chris, hurry! We can't hold off much—" was the last thing Chris heard as Tails' voice was cut off over the radio.

"Oh no!" Chris gasped.

"Hurry, Chris. We have to go over there right away!" Cream cried.

"Chao!" said Cheese.

"Yeah! Sonic might be in trouble!" Amy added.

"Alright, hold on. I'll radio Knuckles and we'll be on our way," he said as he reached for the radio and turned the pink ship towards the desert.

Breeze and Tails sat in a cold room on Eggman's new and improved flying fortress. They had been captured by Eggman while the others were distracted and had been flown away in his hover craft to the fortress no one had noticed hidden in the sand dunes near where they had been surprised by Eggman. Eggman had immediately ordered a take off and flown them to Angel Island where he stole three emeralds that Knuckles had stored there. He now had in his possession five of the emeralds, having already found two himself. He just needed two more, the yellow and light blue one, before he could start looking for the Breeze Heart.

Breeze huddled close to Tails in the room where they had been deposited. Tears were falling down her face as she, again, cried. She had been crying way to often these past few weeks. It was always a weakness she had; crying and getting all emotional when things got tough. She needed to snap out of it and take what ever came at her without tears, but for some reason she couldn't help but to break down. Things had been going so well!

Tails didn't know what to do to cheer her up. He hated to see her upset like this, and he was pretty upset too, but he wanted to try and be positive about their situation. Chris was coming and when they got those two chaos emeralds they could all teleport here and rescue them. He tried to explain this to Breeze, but it didn't seem to help.

"Aw, come on, Breeze. We'll get out of this. After all we're together," he said and put an arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer.

"I know you're trying to cheer me up, but I just feel so awful," she said and then flinched at a loud noise that resounded through the ship. She suddenly got the feeling, almost out of nowhere, that she may loose her little two tailed fox and she clung to him and looked him in the eyes. "Don't leave me okay? Not for any reason. Just stay right here with me," she pleaded.

Tails saw the big tear drops and worried, pleading eyes and his heart pounded faster. He wanted to take all the worry and fear away from her. He'd rip the whole ship apart if he could only make her happy again. "Don't worry, Breeze, I'll never leave you. Why would I ever want to?"

She pulled him closer and nuzzled her face against his soft fur, holding onto him fiercely, and then the room doors opened to reveal Eggman and three robots standing in the entry way.

"Aw, how cute…take her away and bring her with us, boys," Eggman laughed cruelly. The robots advanced towards them.

"No," Breeze whispered quietly into Tails' fur. Her voice was full of pain.

"Don't worry, Breeze, everything will be okay," Tails tried to say but his voice cracked as he said it.

The robots grabbed the little blue vixen and started to pull her away from Tails.

"No!" she yelled and refused to let go.

Tails held on to her with all his strength, tears spilling from his eyes as well. "I won't leave you, Breeze!"

The robots grabbed Tails as well and pulled the two apart. The foxes fought against them, but their metal hands and powerful gears would not ease up.

"Stop it! Let go of me!" Tails yelled, reaching for Breeze.

"Tails!" Breeze cried again as the robots succeeded in disentangling her from Tails and dragging her away towards Eggman. She wiggled and lashed out with her tail at her captors, but she was too weak and soft to make a difference.

"Breeze, no!"

"Tails!"

"Don't worry, I'll get you back, I promise!" he said and turned on the robots that held him, trying to dismantle them in any way he could. He looked back frantically at Breeze and saw that Eggman had her secured and was leaving. Her panic stricken eyes called to Tails, she was so afraid. Tails struggled again and broke free, running towards the closing door that would separate him from her…but it was too late. The door slammed closed and Tails felt something hard hit him on the head. He fell to the ground as an image of Breeze's frightened face flashed in his mind. _Breeze…Sonic._

_

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_**Feel free to review and tell me what you think!**


	33. Chapter 33: Help Arrives

**Chapter 33: **Help Arrives

Chris landed the pink ship in front of Sonic and Shadow. Once it had touched down, Amy leaped off and grabbed at Sonic, hugging him like she always did when they had been separated and reunited.

"Whoa, Amy, let go!" Sonic said, well naturedly. He wasn't really mad that Amy hugged him like this; in fact he expected it and kind of liked it. He then noticed Chris and Cream coming from Amy's pink ship and cracked a smile.

"Pink looks good on you, Chris," the fun loving hedgehog said.

"Ha, ha, very funny. It looks good on you too," Chris replied sarcastically, indicating Amy who still held on to Sonic.

"Hey, I can take it!" Sonic replied.

"Enough talk, where's Knuckles? Doesn't he have the emeralds?" Shadow said.

"Chris already called him and he said he was coming soon," Cream said happily.

"Well he better hurry up. My patience is running thin," Shadow complained.

"I hope he doesn't get lost," Sonic chuckled.

"He has Rouge with him. She should keep him on track," Amy replied.

"So what happened? I got a call from Tails telling us to get over here. I see Shadow's here, but what about Tails and Breeze?" Chris asked.

"Eggman captured them while we were busy with his robot," Sonic said pointing at the wreckage of the destroyed robot in the sand. He then went on to explain to Amy, Chris, Cream, and Cheese about what Eggman was planning to do. By the time he had finished the story, Knuckles and Rouge showed up. They came over the sand dunes, Knuckles holding the two glowing emeralds and Rouge flying above him.

"Hey, you guys, what's up?" the bat asked when they got close enough to the group to talk.

"We need those emeralds to get to Eggman's ship. He's got Tails and Breeze and he's gonna use Breeze to find a powerful source of energy. Who knows what he'll do with them after that," Sonic explained.

"He wouldn't do anything really nasty, Eggaman's not like that," Rouge pointed out.

"That's no reason to just let him do what he wants," Chris said.

"That's right, Chris," Knuckles agreed.

"Then what are we doing? Waiting for him to strike? Give me the emeralds and let's go!" Shadow said getting more frustrated by the second. They were wasting time!

"Alright, Shadow. Give him the emeralds, Knuckles," Sonic said.

Knuckles looked warily at the black hedgehog. He wasn't that sure about giving the two precious emeralds up to the untrustworthy Shadow.

"Knuckles, come on, do you want to save Breeze and Tails or don't ya?" Sonic urged, exasperated.

"Oh, alright, but if anything happens don't blame me." He handed the light blue and yellow emeralds over to Shadow who immediately gripped them tightly and stepped back, preparing to use Chaos control while closing his eyes.

"Wait a minute, Shadow. You're not just going by yourself are you?" came Sonic's voice. Shadow opened his eyes and looked at the blue hedgehog.

"It would be easier if it was just me."

"No way, we're here to help and that's what we're gonna do like it or not. Transport all of us with you."

Shadow surveyed the group and shuddered at the amount of power that was going to take, but they wouldn't let him leave without them. They were too stubborn. "Alright, but are you sure you want to bring Cream?"

"Yeah I'm sure, she's really helpful when it comes to fighting robots," Sonic replied, winking at her. She smiled sweetly and blinked her big brown eyes.

Shadow nodded and then moved forward until he was surrounded by every one. They all moved in closer to him and he raised both emeralds into the air.

"Chaos control!" and they were gone in a flash of light.

Tails slowly opened his eyes to the bright lights of the little room he was in. The robots must have hit him in the back of the head while he was trying to get to Breeze. He sat up, rubbed the dulling pain that still throbbed on his head, and looked around. The room was the same as it was, minus one blue vixen. Tails felt the tears coming down his face again. Now what was he supposed to do? This was just like what had happened to Cosmo and now he was scared that he might not be able to keep it together. He might fall apart.

He put his hands on his head and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to banish the dark thoughts. _I can't get her back! How will I keep my promise? I'm too small…too weak. No, don't think like that, you're tougher than you look and you're really smart. You'll figure it out. But it's so hard and you've failed so many times. What makes this any different? I couldn't save Cosmo…and now I can't save Breeze._

A bright flash of light disrupted his tumbling thoughts and he jerked his head up, eyes widening in surprise as he saw Sonic, Shadow, Amy, Chris, Cream, Cheese, Knuckles, and Rouge all suddenly standing in the room in front of him. He stared, they stared, and then Cream broke the silence.

"Tails!"

"Chao!" Cheese added.

"Hey, guys…this is really weird. I guess you got the chaos emeralds," Tails said.

"Yeah, how are you, buddy?" Sonic replied, approaching him.

"Terrible. You got here too late. Eggman already has Breeze," Tails said, breaking down in tears again.

"Hey, don't worry, that's why we're here. To get her back!"

"Not to mention saving the world from Eggman's evil schemes once again," Rouge commented.

"But how are we gonna do that?" Tails asked.

"It's easy. Come on, let's go get Eggman!" Sonic said confidently.

"I'm right behind you, Sonic," Amy agreed.

The group started off towards the door and Shadow used chaos spears to blast it open. Once the smoke and dust had cleared, they passed through it, confident and ready to take on anything Eggman could dish out, all except Tails.

"Uh, Sonic, Tails isn't with us," Chris said to him.

Sonic looked back into the room to see the droopy eared fox still in the same place with his head down, staring at his shoes. The blue hedgehog sighed and walked up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I thought this is what you would want, Tails. What's the hold up?"

Tails didn't respond and Shadow had just about had enough of all the delays. "Sonic, you worry about him, I can't wait any longer. I'm going to find Breeze and anyone who wants to come with me is welcome."

"Maybe we should all go," Cream said.

"That's ok, guys, we'll catch up with you," Sonic said to them. They nodded and followed Shadow out of the room, Cream and Amy looking back sadly and then hurrying forward.

Sonic turned his attention back to the lost fox and tried to shake him out of whatever was bothering him. "Hey, big guy, you can tell me whatever's bothering you. I promise I'll keep it a secret, but we've really got to go or we could loose for good this time."

"I'm sorry, Sonic. I just don't see what difference it would make."

"What?!" Sonic said incredulously. "Wait, you don't sound like yourself at all."

"This is just like what happened with Cosmo! Don't you see? I have this feeling that something bad's gonna happen and that maybe I'll loose Breeze too," Tails said.

"Well, you'll definitely never see her again if you just sit here on the floor and pout. Come on, whadya' say? Want to come help rescue her?" Sonic replied, offering his hand to the dejected fox. Tails stared at Sonic's hand a few seconds and finally reached up with his own and placed it in the blue hedgehog's. The fox still wasn't happy about what he was about to do, but he couldn't let Sonic and the other's down. Besides, Sonic was right. Did he really want to never see Breeze again after he had just promised her so much?

Sonic smiled and pulled him up. "Now that's more like it. Let's go catch up with Shadow."

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**Sorry I haven't updated in forever! I've been busy and suffering from writers block!**


	34. Chapter 34: Splitting Up

**Chapter 34:** Splitting Up

Shadow moved quietly down the hall. He tried to ignore the ruckus that was going on behind him, but they kept distracting him. He was so fed up with his followers that he finally had to stop. _How did Sonic deal with this all the time? He must have more nerve than I thought. _

"All right, listen up. If you don't stop chatting right now and keep quiet I'm leaving you all here to find a way yourself," Shadow said darkly to the six followers behind him.

"Well it wasn't me who was talking," Knuckles complained.

"No, you never say anything. Probably because your brain is too small to think of anything to say," Rouge teased as Knuckles fumed at her statement.

"You wouldn't really leave us, would you, Mr. Shadow?" Cream asked.

"Of course he wouldn't. He's just talk and no action," Amy said, trying to reassure the worried rabbit.

"Don't think I wouldn't," Shadow simply said and started to walk off again.

The others exchanged glances and carefully followed the black hedgehog, staying quiet despite what Amy had said. Shadow nodded to himself in satisfaction that they had quieted down and slowly turned the next corner. He then stopped, and though he felt the others bump into him from behind, he didn't flinch but stared straight ahead at a closed door at the end of the hall. Noises and voices were coming from behind that door and he had a sneaking suspicion that they might belong to Eggman, Breeze, and the robots.

"What is it, Shadow?" he heard Chris whisper from behind.

"I think it's Eggman."

"There's only one way to find out!" Knuckles said excitedly and started towards the door, only to be pulled back viciously by Shadow.

"We can't just rush in there. That's a mistake you've made one too many times. We need the element of surprise," Shadow hissed.

Knuckles grumbled angrily. He hated being told what to do and being pointed out wrong. Unfortunately he always seemed to be wrong when it came to Eggman. He just couldn't figure the guy out. He felt Rouge place a hand on his shoulder and saw her glance at him with a knowing look. It was as if she understood how he felt, but he shrugged it off and focused on the problem at hand.

"Well I'm more of an attack right away and with force kind of girl so you'll get no help from me on your sneaky ideas," Amy complained and went to stand by Knuckles and Rouge.

"What we need is a plan…" Chris trailed off.

"And I think I've got one," a voice said from behind the group.

Shadow, Knuckles, Rouge, Amy, Chris, Cream, and Cheese all whipped around at the sound to see Sonic and Tails standing in the hall behind them. Big smiles of hope and relief spread across everyone's face, except Shadow's, as the two friends walked up to the group. It was Tails who had spoken before and he came up first, moving into the middle of everyone to tell them about his plan.

"I was thinking, since I figured we may need a surprise attack, that some of us could go to the electrical room and disable some machinery. We might could even get into the control room and disrupt some electrical currents or cut the power to some of the hardware," the little two-tailed fox explained.

"We gotta turn off some lights, guys," Sonic added.

"Sounds good, but we'll need to decide who's going where. Also, we don't know the layout of this ship," Shadow pointed out.

"Don't you know it?" Amy asked him.

"No, Eggman just built this ship. I've never been on it."

"What if we catch someone who has, like a robot," Rouge suggested. "Then one group can go with the robot to the controls and the other can attack Eggman when the lights go off."

"Good thinking, but what robot will we get?" Chris asked.

"I know just the one," the jewel thief smiled. She flew off without another word in the direction they had come and the others couldn't help wondering if she knew something that they didn't.

"You never can tell with her," Knuckles commented a little too fondly than he meant. He hoped no one had heard the small hint in his voice and tried to cover it up with, "So, who gets to attack Eggman? I volunteer."

"So will I," Shadow said. "You're going to need chaos control to jump Breeze out of there."

"Well I definitely want a crack at the old egg so count me in," Sonic said as Amy hopped over to his side and held onto his arm stating that wherever he went, she was going.

"Perfect," Tails agreed. "Chris, Cream and Cheese, Rouge, and I will go for the controls. We'll come help you guys once we're finished."

Sonic smiled approvingly at his fox buddy and gave him a pat on the back. "Good work, Tails. Thanks to you we might finally be able to put Eggman down and get Breeze back forever."

"I hope so, Sonic," Tails said a little down hearted. He still didn't believe this was going to turn out any better than the episode with Cosmo had, but he still had to try didn't he?

Rouge soon swooped back into the hall with a wiggling black bundle of metal and annoyance. She dropped Bokkun on the floor in front of everyone and he looked wildly around for an escape, but it was too late as she flew down on top of him and held him down.

"Here he is," she panted. "He's a tough one to catch, but I have my ways."

"I don't know about this. I thought there wouldn't be this many of you," Bokkun whined.

"How else are we supposed to take down Eggman?" Amy asked with rebuke.

Tails inspected Bokkun and looked at Rouge. "You're going to come with me Cream and Chris so you can keep a hold on him."

Rouge nodded and then smiled at the little black robot. "It's going to be just like old times isn't it?" Bokkun simply sighed heavily.

"Alright, let's go," the ever impatient Shadow said and they split up into their groups. Tails' group started off in the direction of the control room, lead by Bokkun, and Shadow's group headed towards the door at the end of the hall.

Knuckles stopped and looked back at Tails' group as they started off and caught Rouge's eye. "Be careful," he said.

She smiled slyly back at him and replied, "You're just saying that because I have that other emerald."

Knuckles waved her off, "Think what you want."

She smiled again and picked up Bokkun who struggled in her grasp. With the black robot in tow she flew after Tails knowing she knew exactly what she though about the red echidna.


	35. Chapter 35: The Lights Go Out

**Chapter 35:** The Lights Go Out

Bokkun lead Tails' group to the control room with much fussing and fighting. Rouge had to dangle a certain gold locket in his face a few times and with Cream in the group with them the black robot didn't think twice about showing her the correct way to the controls. They finally entered a hazy room with many switches, buttons, computers, and flashing lights.

"I'm surprised Eggman doesn't have some type of guards around here," Chris said.

"Oh, he'll send them out once we turn the lights off," Tails replied.

"Oh. Isn't that a bad thing?"

"No," Tails said as he walked to a computer screen and studied the switches. "It just means we have to work fast. Besides, we can take a few of Eggman's robots. We've been through worse."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Chris said skeptically.

"Just try and find the mechanism that shuts down Eggman's defenses."

Bokkun sat on the floor next to Rouge. He shook his head at them and scolded, "Just wait until Eggman gets a hold of you guys. You'll be sorry you ever dragged me into this."

"You'll be sorry too once he finds out you helped us," Rouge replied.

"Hey! It wasn't my fault! You blackmailed me with that secret!"

"What secret, Bokkun?" Cream asked.

"Uh…nothing…no secret…did I say secret?" Bokkun stuttered and blushed.

"What are you hiding, Bokkun?" Cream teased him cutely with big brown eyes.

"Nu-nu-nothing! I'm not hiding anything, why would I hide something?" he said quickly and dove behind Rouge to escape Cream's taunting.

"Um, guys, not to be rude or anything but could you quit talking and help us out?" Tails said, looking up from the computer.

"What do you want us to do? It's not like I'm a technical genius like you are. Give me a diamond and I can tell you what kind it is, put me in front of a computer and I'm as useful as Big," Rouge said sarcastically.

Tails sighed and looked over at Chris who was messing with some wires. At least he had one person who was helping. "Ok, Rouge, you watch Bokkun and guard the entrance. Cream you can help her or help Chris if he needs it."

"Roger that," Rouge said and, dragging Bokkun with her, glided to the doorway and peeked outside. Cream skipped over to Chris and watched him switching wires while Cheese flew in circles above his head.

Tails turned back to the computer and activated it, hacking into the network. He deactivated the guns and security cameras on the ship and started looking for the light system. Once he found it he hovered over it and looked back at Chris.

"Are you done Chris?" the fox asked.

"Almost, just one more wire and then you can shut off the lights and we'll go meet up with Sonic."

Tails nodded and looked back at the computer screen. As he stared he wondered what was happening to Breeze. He hoped she knew he was coming to save her. He hoped his dark feelings he felt inside wouldn't hold true.

*************

Eggman swiveled around in his chair in delight. He, his robots, and his captive were in the bridge of he ship and were about to start searching for the last emeralds. This was finally his big moment! He would have so much power once the emeralds and the Breeze Heart were found! He turned to his robots who were still vigorously working on hooking up Breeze's mind to his ship's navigation system. That way, when she used her seeking power, his ship would know exactly where to go.

"Are you fools done yet?" he complained impatiently.

"Not yet Doctor, just a few more minutes," Decoe said.

"These things take time you know," Bocoe finished.

"Well they should take less time. Hurry up before I deactivate both of you!"

The robots moved their hands faster on the keyboards, typing in navigation code and grumbling about their lot in life. Eggman relaxed back against his chair. He glanced over at the captured vixen who sat dejectedly on the floor. She had her face in her hands and she shivered uncontrollably. When they had first tried to attach the wires onto her head, she had reacted violently, even whipping out her bow and arrows and threatening to blow Eggman's ship sky high. Her efforts had been wasted, however. She was just too small and weak to over come all of Eggman's robots. Her bow had been confiscated and she now sat there defeated and helpless.

Eggman wasn't the sort to feel absolutely no pity for his captives, and he did feel rather sorry for the creature because he had done much to her to make her suffer, but he wasn't about to ease up. She was pesky and had a knack for turning others against him.

"Done, Doctor," came the robot's voices and Dr. Eggman happily jumped up from his chair and made his way over to the prisoner. Breeze looked up at him in fright as he bent own over her and sneered.

"Time to find me those chaos emeralds, dear. Too bad Shadow isn't still on my side. You cooperated much better with him around, but we'll try our best."

Breeze shuddered and he pulled her up off the ground and dragged her to the large window. She stood and looked out over the land, wishing she were somewhere, anywhere but here. Eggman gave her a little shove from behind.

"Come on, start searching."

She sighed and then started to focus on the chaos emerald's Eggman was missing from his collection. He said they were the light blue and yellow ones, the exact ones Shadow had been using before he lost them when the Eggsnatcher had gotten them. She didn't want Eggman to get the emeralds, but on the other hand, if she did find them then maybe Shadow or someone else who could help her would be there too. She closed her eyes and focused on the shining gems, willing them into her heart and telling herself that she wanted to find them more than anything. She wanted to be rescued…and then she felt the familiar pulling feeling.

"Dr. Eggman! The system is working!" Bocoe called.

"Good, put the location up on the screens," the Doctor said gleefully. "This is so easy!"

The image flashed up on the screen and Eggman eagerly studied it, wanting to discover the location of his two lost jewels. The system blinked and fuzzed then finally showed a blank black screen with a red dot blinking.

"What's wrong with it? It's supposed to show which direction to turn the ship, not a red dot," Eggman said, frustrated.

"Doctor, that's the symbol it shows when we've reached where the emeralds are. I don't understand why it's showing us that unless we are right over them," Decoe explained.

"Or they're already on the ship…" Breeze said quietly.

Eggman glanced at her and mused over the idea. "If they're already on the ship then that means…Sonic! He's on my ship! Quick, send out destroyer robots immediately."

Just as the last words left his mouth, alarms started going off all over the bridge. They're weapons and communication systems had been deactivated! Someone must have turned them off and Eggman knew just who was responsible. He hurried his robots to gather what troops they could and send them to the control room.

While he was busy giving orders, Breeze realized what Eggman said was true. Sonic and Shadow must be on the ship with the chaos emeralds! They were coming to rescue her and Tails! She excitedly ran towards the door, but then hesitated. She felt something else in the pulling feeling. It was like two forces were pulling her in opposite directions. One was pulling her to the yellow and light blue emeralds while the other was pulling her to something else. It had to be another emerald because that was what she had been searching for, but she thought Eggman had all the others except for two…unless one of the ones he had was a fake! That meant even if Eggman did get the yellow and blue ones he couldn't awaken the Breeze Heart.

Breeze yanked the wires off of her head so no one would realize she had located another chaos emerald. She then rushed towards the door again, but had to stop short because she suddenly couldn't see. Amidst her joyous realization, the lights had been shut off.

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**Thanks for your reviews and support! **


	36. Chapter 36: Hasty Date

**Chapter 36:** Hasty Date

Robots burst into the room and Rouge was sent flying back into a wall. Bokkun happily zipped away towards Eggman, chuckling the whole way. He knew something like this would happen, it always did, the only problem was that he also knew Sonic usually always won against Eggman…but maybe this time it would be an exception. They did, after all, have Breeze.

"Tails! Wait, don't shut off the lights yet—oh rats!" Rouge yelled at the two tailed fox just seconds too late. Chris had succeeded in disabling the communication system on the ship and Tails had promptly shut off the lights. Rouge would now have to fight the invading robots in the dark. Not that that was a problem. She had her sonar and echolocation abilities that allowed her to function quite nicely in pitch black; she just worried about the others. They wouldn't be able to see a thing! _Great_, she thought, _now I'll have to hold the robots off and get everyone out of here. I hope there's a reward in this. Come to think of it I do still have that chaos emerald!_

"Rouge! Are you alright?" she heard Chris's voice sound out from the darkness.

"Chris, I'm scared. Can I go home now please?" came the voice of frightened Cream.

"Chao, chao" Cheese shivered.

"Don't worry, Cream. I have a light," Chris comforted. Rouge saw the bright light of a flashlight shine through the darkness. _At least the kid is resourceful._

No time to think about that now. The robots had already entered the room and Rouge could hear them bumbling about, apparently no good at functioning in the dark. She smiled at her advantage and launched herself in the air, drill kicking one of the blind bots into the ground.

"I guess Rouge is alright," Tails said to Chris as he made his way towards the flashlight.

There were a few more crashes and finally Rouge made her way into Chris' beam of light. She stood, hands on her hips, and looked at them accusingly. "Are we going already?"

"Yeah, of course, thank you," Tails said and Chris led the way out of the dark room, shining his light in front of them so they could make their way back. They didn't have Bokkun to guide them, but Tails and Cream could both smell the way they had come and followed their noses through the twisting halls.

***********************

Eggman cursed loudly and grabbed around the room in search of a light source. Bocoe and Decoe both had lights built into their eyes which they soon activated and then quickly joined Eggman in his quest for his own light.

"How dare those blasted fools shut down all my systems! Now how am I supposed to send robots out to crush them, let alone see where I'm walking!" the doctor yelled in frustration. Bocoe and Decoe sadly shook their heads. It always turned out like this.

Breeze made her way silently to a corner and sat down. She didn't think she should move around too much or she might trip and make noise, reminding Eggman of her presence. She couldn't see very well, but she could still hear and she focused all her energy on her ears, listening for anything that would key her to where Sonic was.

"The only one who could have done this is Tails! That means he's loose on the ship too. Bocoe! Get all the reserve robots to the bridge. Decoe! Go find that pesky vixen," the Doctor shouted once he had picked up a head light and turned it on. He started to vigorously mess with his controls, trying to find some way to restore the lights.

"But, Doctor, how will I contact the robots?" Bocoe asked.

"I don't know and I don't care! Just do it"

Breeze heard the robots moving away from Eggman. One went off in search of reinforcements while the other started to clumsily search the room for her. She cringed and shrunk even closer to the wall. _Please don't find me…Sonic, please get here soon!_

*************************

The lights shut off and blackness enveloped the Sonic team as they waited in the hall by the door to the bridge. Amy cringed at the blackness and leaned closer to Sonic. He put a comforting arm around her and pulled her closer, to her surprise and looked into her green eyes that he could barely make out in the darkness. He was always such a spontaneous person and didn't see any reason why he shouldn't tell her something that had been bugging him for a long time, right now in the total darkness.

"Amy, I've been wanting to ask you if you'd go out with me sometime after this," he said coolly.

Amy gasped and he heard Knuckles slap a hand to his forehead and groan. "Sonic, we're about to go in and battle Eggman and you suddenly ask Amy for a date? What's wrong with you?!"

Shadow shushed them all and motioned with his hand that he was going to use chaos control to bust open the door ahead. He raised his hand…and four large robot guards filed into the room before he could utter the powerful words that would control the glowing chaos emeralds.

"Oh, great! Now we need the lights!" Knuckles complained and raced off to meet the enemy head on despite his limited vision.

"Guess we better go help the hot head," Sonic said and was about to follow but found himself pulled back by Amy.

"Sonic the hedgehog, before you go get yourself killed or maimed I just want to tell you yes! Yes I will go on a date with you!"

"Great! How about tomorrow night?"

"Okay, you can come pick me up at my place."

"Will you two stop talking and get over here and help me!" Knuckles yelled after being thrown into a wall by one of the robots.

Sonic chuckled and charged at the guards with the speed of his spin dash while Amy followed, yielding her hammer. Shadow turned back to the door and focused the emerald's power to it again. Let Sonic and the others distract the robots, he had to get to Breeze.

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**A shout out to all you awesome reviwers! Thanks a lot! I know this chapter was a little short, but I had to end it here. More to come!**


	37. Chapter 37: The Breeze Heart

**Chapter 37:** The Breeze Heart

Tails moved silently down the dark halls back towards the bridge. He was now in the lead while Chris followed closely with the flashlight. Cream and Cheese had fallen behind Chris and were now walking as close as they could get to his light while Rouge soared above their heads, using her sharp echolocation sense to navigate.

Tails suddenly came to an abrupt stop in front of a room that branched off from the hallway.

"Ow!" Chris cried, bumping into the frozen fox.

"What happened, Chris?" Cream yelled, frightened.

"It's nothing, don't panic, Tails just stopped in front of me and I didn't notice in the dark."

"Even with the flashlight?"

"Well…" Chris said embarrassed.

"That's why it's better to be a bat. I know where I'm going no matter where I am," Rouge said smugly from above.

"Hey guys!" They heard an excited Tails call from inside the room. He had walked in while they were talking to discover the source of the curious smell he had come across. "Come look what I found!"

"Tails, we don't have time for this," Chris said walking in after him and shining the light around the room. He saw that Tails had found an ammunition room full of the latest weapons from Eggman's inventive mind. Tails was excitedly dashing around as if he were looking for something.

"Hmmmm, some of this might be useful," Rouge commented on entering the room and glancing around.

Tails moved a box aside and came back into Chris' light holding up a blue bow and arrow set. "See, it belongs to Breeze," he said happily.

Chris smiled, glad that the fox was starting to cheer up a little. "That's great, Tails, but now we need to go find her and get it back to her."

"Let's not leave without some of these laser weapons," Rouge said and tossed one at Chris who almost dropped the flashlight in order to catch it. Tails picked one up too and they left the room again, each with one of Eggman's guns and Breeze's bow.

The group moved down the halls again at a quick pace. Pretty soon they could hear the sounds of a battle not too far ahead. Sonic and the others must already be fighting off Eggman's robots. Tails wondered if they had gotten inside and found Breeze yet. They turned the last corner and ran right into the middle of the fight.

Sonic was busy dashing around the confused robots while Amy knocked one after the other with her hammer. Knuckles smashed them with his iron fists and sent robots flying into the walls. They were fighting in the dark so most of their attacks were wild guesses and aimed at the bright lights each robot had on their heads, but once Chris entered the hall and shone his light wildly around, the robots and fighters looked around in confusion.

It didn't take the robots long to begin firing at the new comers and Chris took action immediately, firing at the robots with his new laser gun. Rouge attacked from above and Cream, with her chao friend, huddled in a corner, wishing there was something they could do to help.

Amidst the struggle there came a sudden flash of light and the door to the bridge of the ship blasted open. The fighters snapped around to see Shadow standing in a pile of wreckage and smoke. He had destroyed the door with the chaos emeralds and was now stalking silently into the room in front of him. The robots immediately took off after him, and Sonic and his friends followed, ready to help Shadow if he needed it. Shadow whipped around and blasted the robots to pieces with his powers. No one would stand in his way this time.

"Good going, Shadow!" Sonic called, but then everyone went silent when they heard Eggman's cackle from in side the room. They turned to see the evil genius standing in the center of the room, his control panel blinking eerily behind him in the dark, and a struggling vixen in his grasp.

"Hehehehe! Did you really think you could stop me?" the Doctor laughed. "You're silly stunt with the light won't deter me from finding what I want, I still have the key right here in my hands."

"That's why we're here to take her from you," Shadow said threateningly.

"Take her from me! Ha! You've fallen right into my trap! I know you have those chaos emeralds and now that you're here, you can hand them over."

"Never."

"All right then," Eggman smiled and then yelled, "Seize them!"

Robots burst into the room out of no where and bore Shadow to the ground. He struggled to get away from them and Sonic dove in to help him break free, but the robots, with their clinging hands, had already grasped the chaos emeralds and retreated back behind Eggman. They handed over the precious gems and drew their weapons, all pointing at the confused fighters.

Shadow rose to his feet and shrugged Sonic away, glaring at Eggman with such a stare that it could have melted him on the spot. Eggman laughed again and watched as all seven of the chaos emeralds began to circle him. He ordered his multitude of fighting robots to hold Sonic, Shadow, and the rest of the group at bay with their formidable weapons while he turned towards Breeze in the darkened room, holding her out away from him, "Alright, little vixen, find the Breeze Heart for me or your friends die."

Breeze glanced at her friends, each with a frightened look about them, except of course Shadow's killer glare and Sonic's determined face. She hesitated, but then remembered that one of Eggman's emeralds wasn't real. The real one had a signal coming from Rouge's direction. It might just work that if she led Eggman to the Breeze Heart and he realized that his emeralds could not awaken it; they could escape in the confusion.

She nodded and focused all her energy on finding the elusive Heart of the Breeze. As they waited while Breeze concentrated deeply on what she was seeking, a strange light began to form around the small blue vixen. It was a blue light, and it glowed with a brighter force after each passing second. Eggman and the others stared at it in astonishment as Breeze slowly opened her eyes and said, confused, "I don't understand. I searched for it but it's like it's already right here. The pull I feel is sort of pulling inside of me, almost like the Heart is inside…whoa!" she yelled as she noticed the glowing light surrounding her. A light swirling wind had now started to pick up and was blowing around her in a circle. Eggman hurriedly dropped Breeze and backed away.

"What's going on!" the genius cried as the group all stared at Breeze in astonishment.

"I don't know!" Breeze yelled. She slowly started to levitate off of the ground and she looked wildly around at her friends, her eyes searching for help.

"It's almost as if…" Sonic started to say.

"…Breeze is the Breeze Heart," Tails finished in awe. Suddenly that awe turned to worry and he turned back to his friends, "We've got to do something!"

"Yeah, Eggman will use the emeralds to ignite some kind of power that apparently Breeze holds inside of her," Knuckles said.

"But what do we do?" Cream cried.

The others looked at each other in confusion and then at Tails, but for once the smart fox had no idea why and how Breeze was connected to the Heart. Eggman, who had been staring silently before, suddenly put his brain to work and turned to the seven emeralds that swirled around him. At least he would take advantage of the situation!

"It's too late now to save her. Can't you see she is connected to the Breeze that surrounds our world? Now I will activate the power she holds and use it to operate my inventions. I knew there was something about this little vixen that would come in use to me one day. I thought it was just for her seeking ability, but now I see just how powerful she really is!" the doctor ranted and then, using his hands to motion the emeralds forward he sent them flying towards Breeze.

Breeze's eyes widened as the emeralds started to spin around her. She knew it couldn't possibly be true…but here she was floating off of the ground, emerald's twirling around her, and a strange but powerful feeling welling up inside. She felt a pull as if something in her was trying to release itself…and then there was nothing. She fell to the floor and the emeralds clattered down with her.

"What?!" Eggman yelled. "Why didn't it work?"

Breeze looked wearily up and saw Tails trying desperately to reach her while his friends held him back, warning him to stay away. She smiled at him, trying to let him know she was okay, but she saw the hurt in his eyes and the panic that he was going to lose her just like he lost Cosmo.

Eggman had no such feelings. He walked towards her and picked up the emeralds, inspecting them and finally drawing the red one out and holding it up. It didn't sparkle, shine, or glow. It just lay there in his hand with a dull sheen. "This ones a fake!" the scientist said and looked at Breeze. "Where is the real one? Tell me!"

Breeze didn't open her mouth and Eggman frowned. "All right then, I'll make you talk." He motioned for one of his robots to bring Tails forward.

"No!" Breeze yelled at him as the robot tried to yank Tails away from his friends. Sonic and Shadow started to put up a fight but another protest from Breeze quieted them all. "Stop! It's no use there are too many robots! I don't want any of you to get hurt," she said and then stared fiercley at Eggman. "Alright, Doctor, I'll give you the last chaos emerald, but you have to promise you'll let my friends go."

"Of course I will, my dear. Once I have your power they won't stand much of a chance anyways and I can always track them down later."

"Breeze, what are you doing!" Tails cried. "Forget about us! If you give Eggman the emerald everything will end and Eggman will win! You might even die in the process if the energy is too much for you."

"Yeah, Breeze, we can stop him without having to give up the emerald," a brave Sonic added. Breeze shook her head sadly and picked herself up off the ground, her body still emiting the blue light and the wind still swirling around her. She looked at her brave friends and at Shadow. They didn't understand what she was feeling. There was more than their safety that was causing her to obey Eggman, it was the Breeze Heart inside of her. It hungered for the power of all seven emeralds and she did as well. She knew it was wrong and the great amount of power inside scared her, but she couldn't resist the drive.

"I'm sorry, Sonic, but it won't work. At least this way you have a small chance of getting away. I can't hold the power back—agh!" she cried out as a force inside of her jerked her back up into the air. The light shone more brightly and the six chaos emeralds Eggman was holding left his arms and traveled towards her. There was a gasp to the right as the seventh red chaos emerald was wrenched from Rouge's pocket and started to travel towards Breeze as well.

Eggman stared up at the vixen in wonder and fear. This was not what he had expected. He thought he would be able to control Breeze along with her power to use at his will. It seemed to him, however, that the control was slipping further and further from his grasp.

"This doesn't look good," he heard Decoe say in the background, echoing the Doctor's own thoughts.

They all watched in awed shock as Breeze began to twirl in the air, the wind surrounding her becoming loud and stronger until they could barely see her. The emeralds circled her like mad and soon became a ring of bright colors encircling a ball of violent blue colored wind.

"Breeze!" Tails yelled up at her in panic as the electrical equipment in the room started sparking and exploding. Eggman's robots were breaking down and crumbling into pieces on the floor, the ship was losing altitude and plummeting through the sky, the passengers were all looking for something to hold on to, and Breeze, unbeknownst to it all, was hidden from sight by the blinding light and deafening wind that surrounded her.

"Okay! You can stop now! I've changed my mind!" Eggman yelled at her, but she couldn't hear their voices or control the power.

"Breeze! Stop it! Let it go!" Sonic yelled too as he held on to a wailing Amy and tried to think of a way he could use his speed to stop this, but Breeze couldn't respond.

"What do we do?!" Knuckles yelled.

"I don't know!" Chris replied over the noise. He grabbed and held Cream and Cheese close as tears ran down their faces. Rouge slid down towards Knuckles as the ship pitched forward and clung to the red echidna. He held onto her with a strong arm as dark foreboding clouds began to cover the evening sky outside.

* * *

**Wow it seems like forever since I updated this! Summer is a real distraction. Anyways, I know this story hasn't been perfect and a couple of the characters have gone OOC, but I am dedicated to finishing it and I am not at all listing it as a failure. I really have enjoyed creating and sharing it. This story has been a learning experience for me and I hope to do even better on my next one. Though it is coming to a close, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the rest!**


	38. Chapter 38: Powerful Sacrifice

**Chapter 38:** Powerful Sacrifice

All was chaotic. The emeralds spun faster and they could all feel the power building up. Who knew what would happen when it reached it's peak. Would everything be destroyed? Would Breeze be destroyed?

Tails was worried about these pressing questions. He looked up at where Breeze was from the place he had braced himself against the ship. Maybe if he could reach into the mass of wind and light he could grab Breeze and pull her back to him. If she saw him and felt his presence maybe she could let the power go. She needed him again and he couldn't let her down! He had to find a way to save her, he couldn't let her go. He couldn't believe in the things he had thought back when Eggman had taken her from him. He had to believe in his promise…it was now or never.

Tails spun his propeller like tails into quick motion and flew up through the chaos towards Breeze. He knew Sonic was probably calling him back, he knew they were all desperately trying to stop him in any way they could, but he also knew he couldn't listen to them. There was no other way, and if he ended up getting injured, or worse, he knew he could accept that. Anything to stop Breeze from doing something he knew she wouldn't want to do…from destroying the world.

He reached the swirling wind and wild colors quickly as he pushed forward with all his might. The sound of thunder resounded in the air and the wind buffeted the strugglers against the ship, but Tails pressed on. He was thrown back momentarily by the strong gusts the blue wind surrounding Breeze thrust out, but regained his ground and fought harder against it. He was now right next to the loud rush of the wind and tried to peer past it to look for Breeze, still fighting against the gusts that came frequently, but he couldn't see her.

Tails didn't know what else he could do, so he impulsively reached inside the chaos with one hand and tried to feel for hers. His strength was wearing thin and he didn't know how much longer he could stand the power of the wind. Just as he was beginning to give up, he stretched his arm an inch more into the wind and chaos, and felt the warmth and softness of Breeze's hand. She must have felt his too because her hand tightened around Tails' and remained there.

Tails, now full of hope again, began to slowly pull on Breeze. His plan was to drag her clear of the chaos emeralds in hopes that the power would let her go. It seemed to be working too. He was gradually pulling the vixen closer to him, he could almost see her hand…then her hand became visible and her arm followed, next her shoulders, her neck, and her head. He pulled with all his might against the chaos power and finally saw her eyes. They were just as blue as ever, but they looked scared and almost screamed a warning at him to let her go.

Breeze had realized the moment Tails started pulling her free that she could never be free. The power had to have a channel to go through and she was that channel. If Tails continued to stay in contact with her the power of the Breeze Heart may transfer to him and he would be lost in her place. She knew he could not control it. He didn't understand it the way she did. She was born to hold this power and could possibly keep it contained long enough for the others to get away before it consumed her and exploded with devastating force. She could not let him have it, but the wind and noise and thunder was too loud to tell him to let go. She wanted to tell him with every ounce of her soul, but she couldn't get it across. She tried to pull back but he wouldn't let her. He thought he was saving her and wouldn't let go. The fact was he was killing them all.

Then Shadow was there. His red eyes pierced into hers as if he knew what was going on, as if he understood. He wrenched Tail's hand away from hers with his powerful grip and shoved the resisting fox aside. Holding tightly onto her hand Shadow started to let the power within Breeze surge and flow into himself instead. He was a creature of power, created to use great power in the form of the chaos emeralds. He could control it.

Breeze resisted at first. She couldn't let him do this, throw away his life for hers. There was no guarantee he would survive the blast. But the look in his eyes swayed her and she let the power go. _I am ready for this. I have nothing left. You have so much to live for, let go, _his thoughts seemed to echo within her mind. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she nodded back to him and gripped his hand tightly. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, light blue and dark red, and then the power left Breeze's heart and Shadow released her hand.

She fell away from him and the chaos of the wind, which had now turned form the light blue to dark black and red. She felt soft arms catch her in the air to break her fall, but her gaze was still locked on the commotion above her. It became wilder and powerful, full of fierceness and darkness similar to its new channel's emotions. It filled her heart with sorrow.

"Breeze! Are you alright? Where's Shadow?" Tails yelled above the noise.

She looked up at him and realized it was he who had caught her and was now carrying her down to the others who waited below. "He took the power," she managed to say. "We have to get out of here now. He can only hold it for so long."

Tails reached the others quickly and together they all scrambled to find a way out of the damaged ship. Shadow was not there to teleport them so they took escape pods that Eggman had installed on the upper decks. They reached the solid earth safely again, but it wasn't over yet. They had to get far enough from Shadow so that the blast wouldn't destroy them. Sonic took care of that.

He dashed back and forth, carrying them one at a time far away from the area. His quick feet allowed him to accomplish his job in no time and he even carried Eggman off to safety too. Once they were a safe distance away, they all turned back to watch the amazing but terrible display that took place. Shadow must have barely had the strength the hold back any longer, for as soon as Sonic's last dash to safety was completed the massive cloud of black and red wind surged outward and then exploded with such a force that even from a safe distance away they could all see it and feel the wind rush out over them. The chaos emerald's flew every which way and were lost yet again.

They stood there, still as statues and stared at the empty sky where Shadow had once been. All that remained were the dissipating clouds and barren land that stretched for miles. Tails put a hand on Breeze's shoulder and she turned to him.

"Don't worry, Breeze, I'm sure Shadow's fine. He's like that you know, one minute he's there, and then he disappears, but always manages to come back somehow," Tails reassured her.

She smiled at him and leaned in close to rest her head on his chest. "I know," she said, "I hope I'll see him again someday, but right now I'm just glad I'm here with you. I love you, Tails."

Sonic grinned as the two foxes held each other and watched the clearing skies. Everything always seemed to work out and he was happy for his two friends. Of course he hadn't worried; he was never worried or stressed about anything. That's what was great about being the fastest thing alive. There was nothing to tie you down…

"Hey, Sonic! Can we go on our date now?" Amy exclaimed coming up towards him.

Well, almost nothing.


	39. Chapter 39: An Epilogue of Beginnings

**Chapter 39: **An Epilogue of Beginnings

As always, no matter what had happened the previous day, be it good or bad, the new day dawned over the world where Sonic the hedgehog and his friends lived. It had been a week after Shadow's sacrifice and the Breeze Heart's destruction and a hearty picnic was taking place atop a green hill where there were plenty of trees and a nice light breeze to ruffle their leaves.

The typical red checkered picnic blanket was stretched out underneath one of these trees and a group of friends sat under it eating sandwiches and drinking cold lemonade. Sonic leaned back against the trunk with his eyes closed and hummed a tune while Amy sat at his side chatting with Cream. Cheese floated about, eating bits of food that Chris offered, while Tails and Breeze lay on their backs making shapes out of clouds.

Soon Rouge and Knuckles walked up the hill and surveyed the peaceful scene. They had been invited to the picnic of course, but had declined saying they had more important things to do. They had now come back, and Rouge was holding something shining in her hand.

"What's up, Knuckles? Come to join the party after all?" Sonic asked, lazily opening an eye at the couple's arrival.

"Actually we came to show you something," Knuckles replied.

"And I found it," Rouge stressed and grinned at Knuckles.

"Whatever, you wouldn't have found it if I hadn't suggested we go treasure hunting in the first place."

"Yeah, well that was a lame excuse to get me to go out with you anyway," Rouged smiled at him.

"I did not…That wasn't…ugh," Knuckles gave up and blushed a deeper red while giggles and snickers erupted from the crowd gathered on the blanket.

"Okay, love birds, what'd ya find?" Sonic chuckled.

Rouge extended her hand and showed them a green chaos emerald sparkling in the sunlight. They gathered close and there were many ooos and ahhs as the glowing gem was examined. "Where'd you find it?" Breeze asked.

"Over by the lake, Knuckles and I are gonna go look for more, but we just thought you'd like to know about it," Rouge replied.

The gears in Breeze's head were working as she thought excitedly that if the chaos emeralds made it through the blast and could be found, maybe Shadow could as well! It was possible she would see him again and finally get a chance to thank him for all he did. A chance to be with Tails was one of the greatest gifts she had been given and she still wished she could return the favor.

"Cool," Sonic was saying, "I'll help you look after the picnic. I can cover more ground you know!" he bragged.

"Sonic! I thought you and I were going for a stroll after the picnic…alone!" Amy complained.

"On second thought I'll join you now!" Sonic said and sped off at top speed.

"Soooooniiiiiiiic!" Amy yelled after him and then huffed. "Oh, he never does what I want to do!"

"Just give him some time on his own to be himself, Amy," Cream advised.

"Well we better go after him before he finds them all," Rouge urged, and she and Knuckles raced off to begin the search. The rest of the group watched them go and then decided they would clean up the picnic and go down to the beach. Tails put the picnic supplies into the Tornado and everyone piled in, Breeze sitting in Tail's lap like on the first day they met.

They arrived at the beach in no time. The sun was high in the sky, the waves were blue and sparkled, it was all perfect, except for the fact that Eggman was lying on a beach towel a few miles down the coast in swimming trunks and having his two robots rub tanning cream into his skin. It didn't look like it was doing any good because every inch of him was already as red as a beet. The friends shrugged and decided he was just a minor inconvenience. He was apparently taking a few months off from being an evil genius…but they figured that wouldn't last much longer.

Sonic was soon seen speeding towards them and kicking up a massive cloud of sand which blew all over Eggman, causing him to yell at Sonic while jumping up and down like an upset child. There was now sand all in the sunscreen he had just put on. Sonic grinned and came to a halt in front of his friends who had just started to unpack the Tornado.

"Hey Breeze, look what I found!" he said to the blonde vixen and put a shining blue emerald into her hand. She looked at it closely and realized it was the one Knuckles had given her; the one Shadow had had last. She looked up hopefully at Sonic but he shook his head.

"All I found was the emerald," he said meaning there had been no sight of Shadow.

Breeze sighed, and as she did the light blue emerald seemed to shimmer and a light breeze suddenly kicked up around her, tousling her hair and fur, and then it died down. The others looked at her in amazement and Breeze smiled inwardly, wondering if a small part of the Breeze Heart still existed within, and knowing that Shadow would come back one day.

"Aha! I've got it!" They heard suddenly from behind them and saw Eggman jump up and summon his ship. He looked towards the group and smiled evilly at Sonic. "Even you can't stop me this time hedgehog!" he cried and took off into the distance.

"Oh great," Sonic sighed. "It looks like the world is going to need saving again!"

Breeze, Tails, Amy, Cream, Cheese, and Chris all looked at each other and laughed as the blue hedgehog followed after Eggman at top speed. They then prepared to enjoy their day at the beach before they had to deal with Eggman again.

* * *

**Well the story is now officially over and I'm glad I could complete it. Thank you to all the readers who stuck with it through good and bad, you guys are great! I will be writing another story eventually though I can't say it will involve Breeze. Thanks again! I enjoyed writing!**


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